Rosenkreuzstilette: Schwert Gewehr
by D.M.Ash
Summary: Asche Klingeblatt is a member of RKS, one of the organization's swordsmen magi. What happens when he aids Spiritia on her quest to stop RKS' uprising against the Empire? Based on the game Rosenkreuzstilette. (Going through a complete rewrite)
1. Asche Klingeblatt

Rosenkreuzstilette – Schwert Gewehr

Prologue – Asche Klingeblatt

"Man, waiting can be so boring sometimes." A guy with short jet black hair, which was slightly spiked downwards and brown eyes, named Asche said with a sigh. Waiting around didn't suit him very well unless a friend asked him to, in which he tolerated it.

That was when Iris Zeppelin, a girl with long blond hair and red eyes, wearing a dress that was red with a black shirt underneath, appeared from behind and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure Tia is on her way here as we speak."

Asche jumped a bit at the surprise and said, "Oi, Iris, don't do that!"

Iris giggled and said, "But it's so much fun spooking you Asche."

Asche leaned on the wall as he shook his head saying, "I don't understand you sometimes Iris."

RKS000 Null Asche Klingeblatt, one of the male members of RosenKreuzStilette, or RKS for short. The reason for his odd code sign is due to his special circumstances with his magic. For some reason Asche doesn't have the ability to cast any spells but he has the ability to channel his mana into any object he holds or even wears, including weapons. He wields a special weapon called 'Schwert Gewehr', a blade that has a laser like edge on one side that's powered by magic he courses through it. With the natural ability to absorb mana from his surroundings when it depletes he can use the blade continuously. Asche likes to dress simple most of the time, wearing only a white dress shirt and black pants most of the time, with a brown leather sword strap. He wears a long grey trench coat for when the weather gets cold or for travel purposes.

As the two waited around, Asche's thoughts wandered off to two of his best friends, Spiritia Rosenberg and Freudia Neuwahl. The two were younger than him by a year when he first met them, which was when their village was being attacked by magi haters, some of which were renegade Empire soldiers. Asche, despite being ten at the time, was a gifted swordsman, being trained as one for five years previously. He was dispatched with a team by RKS to repel the attack and rescue any village survivors. The two were about to be attacked by a few renegades when Asche stepped in and cut down the attackers before they struck. After that, he had led the two back to the safety zone where the other village survivors were being gathered. Asche got to know them after the attack had been repelled and through him they were able to join RKS when it was being reformed. Now seven years later he's proud of both of them that they became powerful magi in their own rights.

Asche also had a bit of a rivalry with Grolla Seyfarth, though it was one-sided most of the time. Grolla was trained by her grandfather Raimund, while Asche was trained by Raimund's younger brother Siegfried, the man who adopted Asche when his parents died. Both men had similar techniques but Siegfried trained Asche to use the Schwert Gewehr in a different way, due to his special circumstances and the unusual way he interacted with the sword. Thanks to that Asche doesn't have a hardened warrior's attitude like Grolla's, which she found to be disapproving in her opinion. For some reason, Grolla always challenges Asche most of the time they meet during off duties, and in the end he either beats her, or something interrupts their fight. Each time they fight, they get better too, from the way Spiritia and Freudia observed from the many sparring matches they had.

Now Asche became an instructor at the training hall along with Spiritia training the various students that were there, including a few magi. But now the only people around were Asche and Iris, along with Spiritia coming to meet them from the forest. All the other students had left, with the magi students gone to Haven, a floating island in the sky that had a temple-like building on it, which served as the main building.

Asche sighed as he remembered that Spiritia had told him that she befriended a fairy named Lilli, one of the forest's inhabitants. He hasn't met her yet but from what Spiritia told him, she's an energetic and cheerful fairy, although she's a bit protective at times.

Iris said, "I hope Tia gets here soon, I can't wait to see her again."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to see you." Asche said. Iris teased, "I'm sure you're glad to see me too Asche."

"Yeah, yeah," Asche said, "Though waiting with me must be boring you Iris."

Iris blushed a bit as she told him, "I don't mind waiting with you Asche."

For quite a while now Asche's had this weird feeling whenever Iris was around, not to mention he found her behavior quite peculiar for some reason. It was normal for any girl her age to act the way she does but for Asche, he couldn't help but feel that there was just something really off with her behavior. Asche shook his head, thinking, 'I'm probably just imagining things…'

Asche stifled a yawn as the two of them waited for Spiritia to show up. He recalled that his and Spiritia's term as instructors was over for now and that someone else from RKS would probably take their place. They were supposed to be gone already but Spiritia went to the forest to visit Lilli.

A few minutes later Spiritia and Lilli showed up from the entrance. Spiritia said, "Hey Asche!" Then she noticed Iris and said, "Oh Iris! You stayed up for us?"

"Welcome back." Iris said. Asche added, "You're late, you know that Tia?"

"Sorry about that, I had some things to take care of. Anyway, it's good to be back." Spiritia replied. Iris turned to Lilli and said, "And good evening to you too Miss Fairy."

"Grrr…" Lilli grumbled. From what Asche could see, the fairy didn't seem to like Iris very much for some reason. Spiritia scolded her saying, "C'mon, Lilli…"

Lilli seemed hesitant to say anything but Spiritia's stare made her say reluctantly, "… Good evening…"

"It sure is!" Iris said cheerfully. Asche took a closer look at Lilli and said, "So this is Lilli, huh?" Lilli looked at Asche wondering what he was thinking about as he seemed to look her over. Then Asche said, "Wow Tia, she's quite beautiful. I can see that the two of you are close already."

"Hunya…thank you very much." Lilli said while blushing. Then she flew over to Tia's ear and whispered, "I like him, he's very nice."

Spiritia just smiled as Asche turned around and cracked his neck, "Ugh, standing around for a long time sure made me stiff." Iris said, "Okay, then let's get going."

That was when both Asche and Spiritia had a bad feeling. Asche drew his sword while Spiritia said, "Huh, why am I getting a bad feeling… Asche, you too?"

"Yeah…" Asche said as he brought up Schwert Gewehr. That was when there was an explosion from the roof, and out of nowhere a dragon swooped down and grabbed Iris. Iris screamed as Spiritia said, "Iris! That dragon! But…why?!"

"Forget the why and let's just rescue her!" Asche shouted. He charged at the dragon when he was suddenly bounced back just before striking the dragon, and Asche hit the ground with a thud. He slowly got up thinking, 'What the-?! It felt like I hit an invisible wall just now!'

"Let me try asking him!" Lilli said. She tried to talk to him but she shouted, "It's no good! He's not listening to me at all!"

Spiritia helped Asche up as she said, "No way…is someone controlling him?"

Asche answered that for her, "Most likely, I can see it in his eyes." That was when the dragon flew away with Iris in it's claws. Lilli went after it shouting, "Hold it right there you!"

"Wha…? Lilli!" Was all Spiritia could say under the circumstances. Asche, meanwhile picked up the pendant that Iris dropped. Spiritia went over to Asche's side saying, "That pendant…Iris."

Before Asche could say anything the building shook again under what felt like explosions. Asche spat, "Damn, the place is under attack! We need to move now Tia!" He tossed to Spiritia Iris' pendant which she pocketed as another explosion rocked the place.

"But we have to go after them!" Spiritia shouted as the building shook once again.

"I know, from what I saw they were headed for the area beyond the training hall's obstacle course. We'll head over there." Asche told her. Spiritia nodded and the two of them went deeper into the building.

To their shock the place was infested with monsters. Asche sliced an Eggmet in half while Spiritia shot a few Ball Bats that tried to attack them. Spiritia shouted, "Where did all these monsters come from?!"

"Whoever attacked this place must've let them in. C'mon, we'd better head for the second floor." Asche said. The two fought their way through a whole bunch of monsters before they reached the second floor, where the obstacle course was.

They saw that the place was on fire and Spiritia shouted in shock, "The training hall!"

"There's no time Tia, we need to move it now!" Asche urged her. The two ran and jumped through the obstacle course as they went through monsters blocking their path. They managed to clear it and climbed down just before a tower crashed down, crumbling and blocking the entrance on top.

The two looked up at the rubble above and Asche said, "Now that was a close one." Spiritia agreed, "Yeah, but we need to keep going!"

They continued on their way ending up on the roof overlooking the forest. Asche saw that the fire had engulfed most of the training hall and that it was most likely going to spread to the forest. He sliced two Living Crosses in half while Spiritia plowed through a bunch of Spear Knights with a charged Seelegewehr shot.

Suddenly Asche felt some kind of temperature spike from behind, and when Asche turned he saw a flaming boulder flying towards them like a meteor. He grabbed Spiritia bridal style and dashed forward before the boulder landed where they were just standing a moment ago. Asche sighed in relief as he asked, "Are you alright Tia?"

Spiritia was a bit red as she replied, "I'm fine Asche." He put her down as he said, "There's the ladder leading down up ahead. We better head inside before any more boulders fall on us."

A nod came from Spiritia as they made their way to the ladder. The two encountered more monsters on the way down but Asche and Spiritia either dodged them or destroyed them.

Eventually they reached the ground floor and managed to get back outside. They found a live gargoyle statue waiting outside for them. Asche went off to engage it as the entire forest was set aflame in a flash. Spiritia saw the spectacle said, "Oh no, the forest!"

"I know Tia, but I could use some help here!" Asche was busy trying to hack away at the statue as it kept spitting out fireballs. Spiritia covered him by firing off shots while Asche managed to slice off an arm. That didn't stop it as it started hopping around trying to crush Asche while still spitting fireballs from it's mouth. A well placed charged shot by Spiritia to the head caused it to go blind and Asche took that chance to slice the entire statue in half.

As the statue fell apart Asche couldn't help but say, "It's starting to get hot here. Damn, I'm gonna beat the crap out of whoever started this attack!" Asche went on with Spiritia not far behind him.

The two managed to reach the gate leading to a hallway, which led to a garden that had an overview of the lower level of the forest. In front of the gate they found Lilli floating there, looking exhausted. As they rushed over, Spiritia called out to her shouting, "Lilli!"

The fairy turned and saw Spiritia and Asche approaching. Lilli hovered over to them and said while taking deep breaths, "Tia…sorry…I couldn't…keep up with him…" Asche could see that Lilli looked plain exhausted, while Spiritia told her, "Hang in there Lilli!"

"I'll be alright… It looks like…everyone…made it out okay…but the forest…our home…" Lilli said in a mournful voice as she gasped for air. Both Asche and Spiritia were silent as Lilli cried, "I couldn't…do anything…"

Spiritia assured her, "You shouldn't push yourself right now. C'mon, rest on one of my crosses."

"…Alright…thank you Tia…" Lilli said as she hovered over to one of Spiritia's cross hairpins. Asche asked, "Is she going to be alright Tia?"

"Yes, she's just exhausted from chasing that dragon." Spiritia said. She looked at the burning forest and said sadly, "The fairies' home, it's gone."

Asche put his hand on Spiritia's shoulder and assured her, "As long as all the fairies are alright, they can find a new place to call home Tia. Homes can be replaced, lives can't."

"You're right; we'd better find whoever's responsible for the attack first." Spiritia told him. Asche nodded and said, "Once we do, we'll get Freu and the others to mount a counter attack." But when he looked at the gate he had an odd feeling, like something bad was about to happen. Spiritia noticed Asche's look and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Something's beyond that gate." Asche replied, pointing to the entrance, "We'd better hurry and check it out." The two walked through and the gate closed behind them. Seeing as they had no need to go back they walked forward through the other gate.

On the other side they found Freudia waiting for them, much to their surprise. Asche wondered, 'It's Freu, why's she here?'

Meanwhile, Freudia saw them and said calmly, "You're late Tia, Asche."

Spiritia, on the other hand was relieved to see that Freudia was there and said in relief, "Freu! You're here!" Freudia was oddly silent and Asche had a bad feeling about the whole situation as he gripped Schwert Gewehr. Spiritia went on saying, "This is bad Freu, we don't know who the enemy is, but-!"

"But I do!" Freudia told her. Spiritia said in amazement, "Really?!" But before Freudia could say anything Asche stepped up and pointed his sword to her making Spiritia say, "Asche, what are you doing?!"

Asche ignored her and asked, "Freu, let me ask you this, is RKS responsible for this attack?" Spiritia was shocked as Freu smiled and said, "As perceptive as ever Asche. Yes, RKS is responsible for this attack, and I'm in command for this particular operation."

Spiritia was stunned as she struggled to say, "…What? Why?" Asche lowered his sword a bit but kept his guard up. He asked, "What happened Freu, RKS doesn't do attacks like this out of the blue. What's the reason?"

"The reason?" Freudia asked, "Today marks the day of our independence. Under the watchful eye of Count Michael Zeppelin, RKS will cut it's ties with the Empire today. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to contact the two of you sooner, so I came to deliver the news personally."

"…I…don't understand, Freu…" Spiritia said, looking confused by all this. Asche wasn't taking this news very well either, since this was all just too sudden. Spiritia asked, "How could all of you decide on something like this?"

"Aside from Liebea, the decision was unanimous. The others should be infiltrating the Empire's lifelines by now." Freudia told them. Asche got curious and asked, "And what happened to Iris? Is she alright?"

"Iris? The Count's daughter should be in our care." Freudia replied.

"Whew…thank goodness, she's alright…" Spiritia said with relief. That was when Freudia said to them, "Tia, Asche, let me ask you two, don't you find this all strange? That those with power are being used like puppets by those without? We just merely wish to protect our rightful place in this world."

"Really…and this is the only way Freu?" Asche asked her. Freudia replied, "Yes, regretfully there was no other way. The Empire looks down upon us, and will not settle our differences in a peaceful manner. This was the only option available to RKS."

"That's…just not right…" Spiritia stammered. Freudia held out her hand with a smile and offered, "Now Tia, Asche. Will you two join us in creating a new world?"

That's when Spiritia got angry and said, "A new world…? You destroyed the fairies' home just for that?!" Freudia lowered her hand and replied, "…So? That's of no concern to us." Asche didn't like what she just said; sure she was cold sometimes but she had a caring side too. But before Asche could say something Spiritia shouted, "You're wrong Freu! Everything about this is all wrong!"

Asche was a bit stunned by Spiritia's outburst but could understand what she was getting at. Freudia turned to Asche and said, "And you Asche?"

He looked at Spiritia and saw the tears in her eyes, which looked like they were begging him not to go. Asche turned to Lilli and saw that she had a similar look in her eyes too. He sighed as Asche brought up Schwert Gewehr to full stance and said, "Sorry Freu, but I can't agree to this either."

Freudia urged them, "There's no time left. The Count has ordered me to dispose of you two should the two of you resist. What happens next is up to you."

"Are you threatening us?" Spiritia demanded. Freu closed her eyes and replied, "You may interpret that as such, if you want." Asche suddenly dashed forward and gave Freudia a warning slash, shocking the two girls and causing Freudia to jump back. Asche said, "Well, I don't know about Spiritia, but I don't respond well to threats." Spiritia went up to Asche and got into a battle stance saying, "I'm sorry Freu…"

"Is that you're final answer Tia, Asche?" Freu asked them.

"We'll open your eyes Freu, as well as the others! Right, Asche?" Spiritia shouted, looking over to Asche.

Asche smirked and said, "Might as well." Freudia had a disappointed look on her face as she said, "Stubborn as usual. I'm sorry that this had to come to this." She raised her hand and shouted, "Freudenstachel!" a flurry of icicles appeared and were rapidly fired at Spiritia and Asche's location.

The two managed to dodge them as Asche blocked one of the icicles with Schwert Gewehr. However the sword started to freeze at the touch and Asche had to slam the blade on the ground to break off the ice.

Meanwhile, Spiritia shouted, "Freu wait!" Freudia ignored her as she cast another wave of icicles towards her. Spiritia was forced to dodge and she shouted, "Seelegewehr!" A highly charged mana shot flew out of her hand and headed straight for Freudia.

Freudia managed to dodge it but Asche followed it up, using the butt of his sword to knock Freudia back. Asche knew showing leniency to the enemy was dangerous, but even while fighting Freudia was their friend. Spiritia too had similar thoughts, but she already set her heart on it. However Freudia saw Asche's hesitation on his face and she sighed as she turned her attention to him in particular, since his hesitation started to leave him open at times. Inside she really didn't want to do this but she had her orders, as harsh as they may be.

Freudia shouted, "Freudenstachel!" as a whole flurry of icicles made it's way to Asche at high speeds. He managed to dodge most of them but a few grazed him by his left arm and right shoulder. He shouted, "Argh!" as he held his shoulder to stop the bleeding.

Spiritia shouted, "Asche!" as she managed to get behind Freudia and fire off a charged Seelegewehr shot. Freudia turned to Spiritia's shout but couldn't dodge in time as the shot hit her in the back, causing her to kneel down as she said, "Tch, I let my guard down. How foolish of me."

During that time Spiritia rushed over to Asche's side and asked, "Are you alright?"

Asche gripped Schwert Gewehr with his right hand as he replied, "I'm fine Tia, just a scratch." Suddenly the temperature dropped instantly and in a flash, the area was covered in icicles and Freudia started firing Freudenstachel shots again. This time the icicles were coming at them even faster and both Asche and Spiritia had to dodge them again. Spiritia wasn't fast enough and one of the icicles gave her a shallow cut to her left arm. She winced in pain but managed to fire back at Freudia, causing her to dodge.

Asche saw Spiritia wince and thought, 'We'd better end this quickly. Despite our friendship Freu will go through with her orders.' That was when Asche made a reckless charge to Freudia, slashing icicles in half with alarming speed, despite using only one arm. Freudia was surprised at the sudden tactic that she was forced to teleport out of the way, and reappeared from behind. However she wasn't able to fire Freudenstachel as a slightly charged shot from Spiritia hit her from behind, making her lose her focus.

Asche turned and tried again but the same thing occurred, she teleported as soon Asche got into range and reappeared behind him. As Asche dashed away from her, Freudia fired three icicles, and Spiritia fired three mana shots to counter them. During that time, Asche winced in pain as the cold mixed with the drop in temperature wasn't doing any good for Asche's shoulder wound. He took a look and was alarmed to see frost starting to crust around parts of the wound. He whispered, "Hey Tia, I have a plan to make Freu back off."

As they dodged more shots of Freudenstachel Spiritia whispered, "What is it?" Asche gave her the plan and Spiritia agreed to it. Freudia noticed the little talk and wondered, 'Hmm, what are they up to?'

That was when Asche decided to make another dash to Freudia and she shouted, "That won't work Asche!" Freudia teleported again and reappeared behind her, but at that instant a charged Seelegewehr shot from Spiritia hit Freudia in the back. This didn't hurt badly but it distracted Freudia, which she didn't see Asche dashing at her again. She couldn't get out of there in time as Asche swung his sword horizontally and he caught Freudia right in the stomach, sending her flying into a nearby pillar. Spiritia saw what he did and shouted, "Asche, how could you?!"

"Take a closer look Tia; don't tell me you forgot the special properties of Schwert Gewehr?" Asche told her, pointing to where Freudia had just crashed. As the dust cleared Spiritia saw Freudia slowly get up, and saw that the area where Asche hit Freudia with Schwert Gewehr was unharmed, despite her covering her stomach with her hand. Asche told Spiritia, "I can modify Schwert Gewehr's energy edge to be very dull or very sharp. Nevertheless, even when it's dull Freu should be feeling as if I sliced her stomach open."

Freudia looked like she was in pain as she said, "Ugh, you two are as stubborn as ever. Sooner or later, you shall regret your actions." They saw that she was about to teleport away and Spiritia shouted, "Wait, Freu!"

Spiritia turned to Asche and said, "We can't let them get away with this Asche-!" Then she saw that Asche was clutching his shoulder and looked like he was in intense pain. He kneeled as he let go of his sword and reached for a bottle of healing liquid in his pocket. Asche held it out to Spiritia saying, "Could you give me a hand here Tia?"

"Of course." Spiritia rushed over to Asche's side and took the bottle from him. She knew what to do as Asche revealed his injury to her. Spiritia saw that frost had crusted part of it, and she poured some of the liquid onto his wound, making him scream, "Aaargghh! That's really bites!"

As the wound started to heal and close up, Asche winced, "You better take care of that cut too Tia."

Spiritia wondered what Asche was talking about when she remembered one of Freudia's icicles had grazed her arm. She applied the liquid to her wound and winced as it started to work. The bottle was handed back to Asche as he did the same thing with his arm.

When they were all done Asche looked around and asked, "Where did Freu run off to?"

"I'm not sure, let's head for Haven for now; maybe we can find some answers there, as well as were the others are." Spiritia told him. Asche nodded in agreement as he picked up Schwert Gewehr and slung it onto his back. He got up and Spiritia was ready to cast a teleportation spell. Asche hurried his way over as Spiritia finished chanting the spell as he asked, "So first stop is Haven?"

"Yes, and we'd better hurry, we need to stop them before things get out of hand." Spiritia told him. Asche nodded and as the spell flared up he said, "Ugh, I'm never going to get used to this spell."

Spiritia and Lilli giggled as the teleportation spell worked and they vanished in a flash of light.


	2. Freudia Neuwahl

Chapter 1 – Freudia Neuwahl

On the island where Haven was located Asche, Spiritia and Lilli appeared at the entrance of the building. When the spell faded Asche felt like he needed to hurl as he said weakly, "As I said, I'll never get used to that spell."

"Well, you'd better be prepared Asche, because we'll be using teleportation when we go after the others." Spiritia told him. Asche sighed and said, "Just great…"

Lilli hovered between them as they made their way into Haven as she asked, "Does Asche hate teleporting that much?"

"Yeah, let's just say after his first time teleporting, he nearly hurled all over Liebea if not for his quick thinking." Spiritia told Lilli. Asche whipped around and said hotly, "Lilli doesn't need to know that Tia!"

Spiritia and Lilli laughed as Spiritia said teasingly, "Aw, it's not like there was any harm done Asche."

As they entered the building Asche said, "Liebea treated me like the plague for a whole week after that fiasco. Not to mention Karl was giving me those evil looks behind my back." He shook his head and said to them, "That was a few years ago, so let's not mention it again, shall we?"

"Fine." Both Spiritia and Lilli said. The three of them made their way into the main chamber and noticed that the entire building was seemingly empty. Asche looked around and asked, "Shouldn't the trainees be here?"

"Yeah, but the building feels deserted." Spiritia agreed. In the main chamber there was a large round table in the center with a model globe hovering near the ceiling. Lilli went over and took a look at the papers lying around and noticed one in particular. She shouted, "Hey Tia, Asche, I think I found something!"

The two of them went over to where Lilli was and looked at the paper she was pointing at. Asche picked it up and the two started reading what was on it. As luck would have it the paper contained information where the main RKS members 002 to 009 were located. Asche said, "Good, now we know were everyone is. So who should we start with?"

"Let's go after Freu first. I want to try and talk to her again." Spiritia told him.

Asche folded the paper and put it in his pocket as he told her, "Okay, let's head out to Snowfield Castle then."

They made their way back outside as Asche took out Schwert Gewehr, a bit weary at the situation. Spiritia took that chance to look at the sword in detail. The sword was more fashioned like a blade as it had a flat edge on one side and a straight curved tip at the end. There was a space between the bottom part of the end and the hilt, where the energy blade would course through, giving off a pinkish glow. The hilt was blue and rounded, with what looked like a round gem that was white where the guard would be. Asche said that the blade was a family heirloom and was left behind by his parents, more specifically, his mother after they died. Unfortunately he didn't remember much about them since he was only four at the time, and he didn't like to talk about it very much. They made it back outside as Spiritia started to prepare the teleportation spell again. Lilli joked with Asche, "Hope you don't lose your guts this time Asche!"

"If I do, I'll let you be the first to know Lilli." Asche shot back at her. Lilli didn't relish the thought as Spiritia said, "Okay you two, let's get going." The circle flared up and they vanished from Haven.

* * *

A moment later they reappeared near the castle walls outside. In that instant Asche felt the cold and said, "Freu just had to be in a place like this. It makes you wonder how she stays warm in this kind of weather in that dress of hers."

Spiritia laughed and said, "It's probably due to her natural affinity with ice. Anyway, let's get going, I'm starting to freeze here." She took a few steps forward and promptly slipped and fell face first into the snow. Lilli went over and asked, "Are you alright Tia?!"

"I'm fine Lilli, I just slipped." Spiritia told her as she got up, brushing the snow off of her. Asche stifled a laugh and an unusual cough came from him that sounded oddly like the word 'klutz'. Spiritia turned to him and asked with narrowed eyes, "Did you say something Asche?"

"Nope." Asche said as he walked forward, past Spiritia. She just narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she followed him forward. Lilli thought, 'Wow, I think the temperature just dropped a few degrees more just now.' She followed the two and rested on Spiritia's cross.

Asche and Spiritia fought their way to the castle walls, getting rid of monsters like Ball Bats and Snow Lizards that were in the way. Eventually they reached the entrance, which happened to lead underground for some odd reason, and Asche warned, "We'd better be careful down there, I hear the castle's security system is all screwed up for some reason."

"What? How do you know this?" Spiritia asked him. Asche told her, "Remember that report on Snowfield Castle? They said the magic for the security system somehow got out of control and caused some malfunction. Now no one can go through one of the underground ice rooms without being attacked by ice beams. Lucky for us the report also said that there was a delay in when the ice beams would start and there are some areas that are beam free. We'll use one of the rooms to rest a bit."

Spiritia wasn't fond of the idea of going through the underground ice caverns and she asked, "Is there any other way in?"

"Unfortunately, no there isn't." Asche replied, "The other entrance is on the other side of the castle, and the way there happens to be infested with monsters, not to mention the gate was smashed quite a while ago."

Lilli spoke up asking, "Uh, what happens if one of those beams hits us?"

Asche gave the two a serious look as he said, "You instantly get frozen in an ice cube. Not a very good way to die now is it?"

Lilli gulped and Spiritia said, "Well, let's go. We won't let this security system stop us from reaching Freu!" Spiritia jumped in with Asche following her saying, "You got that right Tia!"

Their feet touched the bottom and Asche said, "C'mon, follow me!" Spiritia just nodded as the ice beams started to fire. They managed to jump down another hole but they barely managed to move on as more beams shot out from the walls. They kept going down until they reached the room Asche mentioned. There were monsters down in the room and Spiritia jumped and fired a charged Seelegewehr shot at a skull candle, destroying it and causing the lights to go out.

There was an, "Eek!" from Spiritia and she somehow managed to cling to Asche saying, "Aah, I can't see a thing Asche!" Asche told her, "Give me a minute Tia." He took out Schwert Gewehr and coursed mana through the blade. The energy edge appeared and it made their surroundings glow with it's light. With it they managed to see as Spiritia said, "Whew, thank goodness…"

"What just happened?" Asche asked, since he just landed when the light suddenly went out. Spiritia was a bit embarrassed to answer but Lilli said, "Tia shot what probably looked like a Skull Candle. Hunya…it caused everything to go dark for some reason! I think it was the reason there was light here in the first place."

"Lilli!" Spiritia shouted, sounding embarrassed. Asche shook his head and said, "Okay, so Tia got spooked. Tia, since I'm using Schwert Gewehr to light up our way you need to shoot any monsters that appear before us." Asche told her.

Spiritia replied with confidence, "Of course Asche."

Asche led the way with Spiritia beside him. Asche made a notion for Lilli to come closer and when she did he whispered, "Tia will always be Tia, no matter the circumstances." Lilli laughed and said, "Hunya…that's true."

"What are you two talking about?" Spiritia asked them. Lilli flew back to her saying, "It's nothing Tia." Spiritia was about to ask when Asche shouted, "Hey Tia, up ahead!"

Spiritia turned and saw an Ice Lizard heading their way. She blasted it and Asche said, "Thanks Tia, let's keep moving."

They kept walking down the corridor and the only thing they ran into was an Ice Cyclops. Tia made short work of it as they managed to reach the other end of the corridor, and there was light shining down which made Asche power down his blade. He felt slightly drained since he coursed more mana then usual to keep the blade glowing brightly.

When Asche looked into the next room he saw ice beam turrets and said, "Well, it looks like there's more of them up ahead. Are you ready Tia?"

"Of course Asche." Spiritia replied with confidence. Asche had to admit her courage and stubbornness outmatched his own at times. He took a deep breath and the two made a break for it to the other room with Lilli shouting, "Not again!"

This run took more out of them since all of the rooms were filled with ice beam traps. Both of them were busy outrunning the beams, with Spiritia picking up a cross tank along the way. Why it was there they didn't know, but they had no time to think about it as the beams kept coming.

Eventually they managed to get outside but they couldn't stop, since the ice beams were still coming. Asche became so frantic to get away from the beams, he didn't realize that he separated from Spiritia, taking a fork in the path. The two paths went the same way and were horizontally parallel to each other, being separated by a thick, yet transparent ice wall.

Unluckily for Asche, the ice beams came at him on the path he had taken, causing Spiritia to cry out, "Asche!"

Asche wanted to reply but he had to dash away since the beams were coming in after him pretty fast. It didn't help that the snow was slowing him down, even though he was running as fast as he can, with him pumping mana into his legs. Eventually he managed to get to the gate on the other end and saw that the beams were catching up to him pretty quick. The gate opened and he dove right through it in a flash, not bothering to look back.

When he saw the gate close right before the beams hit, he collapsed on his knees and was breathing quite heavily. Asche was like that until Spiritia showed up from the other gate, looking relieved the moment she saw Asche slumped nearby. She went over and checked to see if he was alright and called out to him, "Asche? Asche?!"

Asche didn't say anything at first but then he wheezed slowly, "Ha…ha…I'm never going…through that…again." Lilli said, "Hunya, you sure are lucky Asche. Or is it unlucky, since you took that wrong turn. The path we took didn't have any of those ice beams."

That made Asche look up at them and the two shivered when he gave them a glare. Spiritia then gave Asche the cross tank she held on to and said, "Here, you better take this."

"Thanks Tia." Asche said as he took the cross tank from her and drank the contents. He felt much better as he got up and threw away the container saying, "Let's go, I'm sure Freu's on the other side of this gate."

The two walked forward and through the other side of the gate, mentally preparing themselves to fight one of their closest friend. Asche couldn't help but think, 'Gotta admit, this is an all-time low, fighting a friend…'

On the other side, they looked around and saw that they had entered a snow covered courtyard. The clouds had settled in and it was snowing, covering the stone ground. Asche and Spiritia moved forward and up ahead, they saw Freudia waiting for them on the other side. When they approached Freudia said, "Ah, Tia, Asche, welcome. Have you two reconsidered your decision?"

"We should be asking you the same Freu!" Spiritia shouted first. Freudia sighed and said, "…Pity, I didn't think the two of you would be so foolish."

Asche asked her, "Freu, why are you doing this? You must have a reason in particular, since you seem to feel quite strongly about this."

Freudia looked at them and replied, "Tia, Asche, we have known each other since we were children, right? Although, I've known Tia longer than you Asche, but that's beside the point."

Spiritia looked confused and asked, "What's gotten into you Freu?"

"Surely, you remember what happened to our home Tia… You've seen it too Asche, what _they_ did to it…" Freudia said to them. Spiritia looked down in sadness, while Asche had a hard look on his face as the memories came back to them. Lilli noticed the change in the two of them and asked, "Tia…Asche…?"

"Those without power chose to attack those born with anything more. They did that to us, so we have to respond in kind." Freudia smiled at them and said, "I'm glad I met the two of you. Had I not, I would most likely not be here today. A world where everyone I love and care for can live in peace – that is all I desire."

Spiritia looked up and said, "Still… That doesn't make it right… There's no way either of us could forget what happened back then, if Asche didn't come to our rescue we probably wouldn't have made it." Her resolve came back into her voice as she went on, "Yes, we definitely have the power to hurt others. But we can use our power to protect people too! Power itself isn't good or evil! Even if others try to slap us around, all we have to do is turn the other cheek!"

Asche was listening and said out loud, "As much as I would like to agree with Tia, that last part didn't sound right." Freudia looked at him, thinking that he might have a change of heart. Spiritia had the same thought and was worried as she said, "Asche…?!"

"Don't worry Tia." Asche whispered. Then he said, "I believe in self-defense, if someone tries to attack us we have the right to defend ourselves. But, if this uprising goes on, we magi will become the oppressors, and there would be horrid casualties on both sides, with more innocents caught in the crossfire." Asche drew Schwert Gewehr and said, "I-, no we, will not let that happen!"

Spiritia said happily, "Asche!" Freudia meanwhile, sighed and said, "It seems I cannot change both your minds. Such a shame… Do you two truly believe that the two of you can stand against the entirety of RKS by yourselves?"

"We can do it, as long as we work together!" Spiritia shouted, getting herself into battle stance. Freudia said, "A foolish decision…if I cannot change your minds…I shall end your lives with my own hands!"

At that moment Freudia chanted something and a golem doll appeared before them. She pulled out a strand of her silvery white hair and attached it to the golem, which made a bright flash and when it died, a copy of Freudia was standing where the golem was. Freudia pointed to Asche and ordered, "Take care of Asche. I'll deal with Tia."

"Understood master." The Freudia copy replied. It teleported to behind them as Asche felt a sudden surge of magic at their feet. He pushed Spiritia forward and leaped back himself, just before a huge wall of ice suddenly sprung up, separating them. Spiritia shouted, "Asche!" Freudia fired an Eislanze shot shouting, "You should worry about yourself Tia!" Spiritia dodged it and Lilli shouted, "You have to focus Tia. Asche can take care of himself."

Spiritia nodded and shouted, "Seelegewehr!" She fired a charged shot towards Freudia, but missed as she charged forward.

On the other side of the ice wall the Freudia golem was giving Asche a hard time, casting Freudenstachel, Eislanze, and Freudenzwinger. Asche tried closing the gap but had to back off in order to avoid the attacks. From what Asche heard a golem can copy a magus' current abilities down to the last detail, and he can believe it. The Freudia golem was just as strong as Freudia herself, and the spells it was casting were no joke either.

Asche managed to close in the space between them a few times when the golem used Freudenzwinger. He was able to tell the real one from the pseudo-illusions and managed to get a few hits in. Now the golem had a shallow gash in it's side and various cuts on it's arms and shoulders, yet it acted like they weren't even there, not to mention no blood was coming out of those wounds.

As he dodged another wave of Freudenstachel shots Asche was fighting the hesitation inside his mind. He thought, 'Argh, I know that, that golem isn't Freu, but why can't I seem to destroy it?!' That gash in the Freudia golem's side was the result of an attempt to destroy it, with Asche about to slice it in half when the golem's face came eye to eye with him, with it staring at him with it's ruby red eyes, the same as Freudia's. Since the golem looked exactly like Freudia he hesitated at the last second, causing him to swing Schwert Gewehr short but made a gash to the golem's side.

Asche backed away and saw through the ice wall Spiritia fighting with Freudia. He saw them fighting each other without hesitation, and this brought back a memory as Asche continued to dodge the golem's magic attacks.

* * *

_Flashback, five years ago_

_"Owie!" Spiritia said as she fell back on her butt, while Freudia was facing her with her hand out. Asche was standing there as he overlooked the two of them spar together. The three were in one of the rooms in the training hall with Asche instructing them in the basics of fighting. Freudia was learning to control the first spell she learned, which she named Freudenstachel, as was Spiritia, which she named hers Seelegewehr. The two were wearing magi training robes, which were brown and were able to absorb magic, but the areas hit turned red as a result._

_ Asche found it funny the way Spiritia landed and said, "Wow Tia, that's an interesting way to dodge there." Freudia giggled as Spiritia said, "I didn't mean to do that!"_

_ Freudia held out her hand as she said, "Tia's always been a klutz for as long as I remember Asche." _

_ Spiritia grabbed her hand and defended, "I am not!" She sure proved that wrong when her foot slipped, sending both of them crashing to the ground. _

_ Asche was laughing like crazy as he said, "Man, you two are so funny." He went over and helped them up, one at a time. When the two were on their feet Asche asked Freudia, "Uh Freu, you didn't hold back that time did you?"_

_ "No I didn't." Freudia admitted. She thought she was going to get reprimanded until Asche said, "Good, you shouldn't." This got a rise out of Spiritia as she said, "What do you mean 'good'? What if she hurts me?"_

_ "The robe can take it." Asche told her flatly, "There's also a spell imbedded that protects the head, so you should be fine. But that doesn't mean that you should get hit, 'cause I'll tell the instructors about it if you do." _

_ The two shivered at that since punishment from the instructors wasn't exactly what you would call nice. He then continued, "If you show restraint to the enemy the chances of dying increase greatly. Unless you're trying to disable someone I suggest you go all out at all times. I learned that from grandfather when I was younger."_

_ Spiritia and Freudia nodded as they got into positions again. That's when Asche noticed something and said, "Hold on a minute!"_

_ The two looked at him as he took out a hair tie and a red ribbon from his pocket. He went over and tied Spiritia's blond hair in a ponytail since it was long. Then he did the same to Freudia, tying her long hair in a similar fashion, as he made the ribbon look like a bow. Asche sighed with relief as he said, "There, now your hair won't get in the way."_

_ Spiritia and Freudia were slightly blushing as Spiritia said, "You look cute Freu!" Freudia said back, "You to Tia! Now let's continue." Both of them nodded as they went back to sparring with each other._

* * *

Present time

As Asche dodged another Eislanze attack he remembered the lesson he taught the two that day. It brought him to his senses as he thought, 'That's right, if I hold back on this I will die here. I'm not looking to disabling this golem, so I must give it my all. I won't die here!'

That was when he started to feel Schwert Gewehr starting to pulse in his hand. Asche looked at it and saw it starting to glow. Suddenly it flashed a bright light and the golem was blinded, forcing it to cover it's eyes. Even Spiritia and Freudia looked away as they saw the light flash through the ice wall. When it died Asche was surprised to find that Schwert Gewehr had transformed into what looked like a gun. The blade had turned into a short barrel as the hilt had moved so Asche could hold it like a gun, although there was a lack of a trigger. Only the guard remained the same as the gem had turned a bright red, the same color as Freudia's eyes.

Suddenly he had a vision where he shouted, "Freudenstachel!" and icicle shots were coming out of end of the gun he was holding. That's when a voice in his head said, 'This is the power of Schwert Gewehr. Use it well.'

Asche's resolve hardened as he thought, 'I will.' The Freudia golem snapped out of it and attacked with Eislanze. Asche dodged it as he got closer to the golem. The Freudia golem teleported away from him and it reappeared near the ice wall. Asche dashed towards it and he was so focused on the battle, he didn't notice the ice wall crumble away. Apparently Spiritia managed to subdue Freudia and the two watched as Asche pointed Schwert Gewehr towards the Freudia golem and shouted, "Freudenstachel!"

The Freudia golem was caught off guard by the attack as the icicles pierced the golem's body mercilessly. The golem stood there for a moment before crumbling into dust. When it did Spiritia and Freudia saw tears running down Asche's face, yet the look he had was hard and emotionless.

Asche sighed as he wiped the tears away and saw Freudia looking beaten. He walked towards them as Freudia said, "…Ugh, you two have gotten so strong." Both Spiritia and Asche were silent as Schwert Gewehr turned back into it's sword form and Freudia said, "It's my loss. Now, finish me."

Spiritia was about to say something when Asche walked forward. Freudia closed her eyes, expecting to be killed, while Spiritia was about to try and stop Asche. To their surprise, Asche dropped Schwert Gewehr making Freudia open her eyes. The next thing she knew she was in a hug with Asche which made her feel warm. Freudia was surprised beyond words as Asche said softly, "How can you think we can do something like that."

Asche still had Freudia in a hug as she said, "B-but, you two possess so much power. Are y-your ideals truly that important to you two?"

"It has nothing to do with ideals Freu." Spiritia said as she joined the hug, with Asche wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She continued, "I just want to protect everyone from RKS just as much as I want to protect everyone in RKS, that's all…I'm sure Asche feels the same way, right Asche?"

They parted from each other as Freudia said, "If we let our resolve waver, even for an instant, we lose our place in this world. That is something we can never change. Tia, Asche, you two should know that much."

"No matter how many times we lose our place in this world, we'll always find a new one." Asche said as he went over and picked up Schwert Gewehr and sheathed it, "No matter where, there will always be a place for us. However it's different when it comes to people, they can't be replaced."

He looked out into the mountains and said, "You know, when I destroyed that golem, you know what I felt?" The two looked at him as he said, "I didn't feel happy or victorious, I felt my heart rip in two. Even though it was a fake that golem, it had your image Freu, and seeing it impaled to death made me feel that I wanted to kill myself. Nonetheless I had to steel myself for the outcome."

"…But to protect something, you must make a sacrifice. This is and has always been the law of the world." Freudia told them. Spiritia had a serious look on her face as she said, "You might be right Freu. That may be the law of the world. But I can't accept that, I won't! I don't want to feel what Asche felt just then."

Asche understood what Spiritia meant as Freudia commented, "That naiveté may be your fatal flaw…"

"But it does help her see the clearer picture of things most of the time." Asche told her. Spiritia said, "The reason I fight…the fact that I love you, Asche, and the others…These feelings are mine alone, and they're irreplaceable."

They saw Asche nod in agreement and Freudia was silent as she thought about it. Then she simply said, "…Do as you please." She teleported out of the area as Spiritia shouted, "Freu!" That was when Asche put a hand on her arm and said, "Let her go Tia."

"But Asche-?!" Spiritia started to say but Asche told her, "She just needs some time to think to herself. But I'm sure she's on our side now." He gave her a wink and said, "Call it a gut feeling."

"Thanks Asche." Spiritia said as she relaxed. That's when she gave him a hug prompting Asche to say, "Eh? Tia?" Spiritia said, "I'm sorry that you had to go though all that Asche."

Asche knew what she was talking about now and replied, "I'm fine now Tia. C'mon, let's get out of here before Lilli's wings freeze over."

"I'm not that fragile!" Lilli shouted. Spiritia laughed and that's when she suddenly had a vision that was similar to Asche. She turned around and held up her hand shouting, "Freudenstachel!" A wave of icicles shot out and both Asche and Lilli were surprised with Asche saying, "Tia, since when can you do that?"

"I don't know, I had a mental image of Freu's spell pop up in my mind and all of a sudden I can cast it!" Spiritia said. Asche scratched his head and said, "For some reason, that sounds like what I went through…"

Spiritia looked confused so he took out Schwert Gewehr and made it transform into its gun mode, surprising the two, even though they'd seen it once before just then. He held it out and shouted, "Freudenstachel!" The same spell came out of the barrel end of the gun and Spiritia was amazed and said, "Wow Asche, I thought you couldn't cast spells!"

"I don't. I take it that it has something to do with Schwert Gewehr. I'm not too sure since grandfather Siegfried only told me it was a special sword, nothing more." Asche told her. "Let's go, the uprising won't stop if we keep standing around."

"Alright, so where do we go next?" Spiritia asked. Asche cracked his neck and replied, "Let's head back to Haven for a small break. We'll decide from there."

Spiritia nodded and started to conjure the spell. Lilli meanwhile floated to Asche's side and whispered, "Was it really that bad Asche, destroying that golem?"

Asche was surprised by Lilli's question and replied, "Destroying the golem? No. Seeing Freu's image impaled like that? Yes. It's something no one should experience, yet for some hateful reason it's a part of this world."

Lilli was quiet as Spiritia completed the spell. Normally a short chant would've sufficed but since Asche couldn't use the teleportation spell, she had to make a few adjustments so the two of them, along with Lilli would be teleported together.

Spiritia completed the spell as Lilli went back to her. She nodded to Asche and the three of them vanished from the castle in a flash of light.


	3. Zorne Zeppelin

Chapter 2 – Zorne Zeppelin

The three of them appeared in the middle of the Nosdu Mountains close to the lava mine shafts. Asche yelped a bit at the sudden change in temperature, saying, "Jeez, we go from a cold place to a hot one. That's just not right."

"We don't have much of a choice, the paper said that Zorne's here." Spiritia told him as she looked at her surroundings. Asche couldn't help but ask sarcastically, "Doing what? Blowing up mountains? No offense, but I really don't see how Zorne being here helps the uprising."

"Don't you remember? Most of the minerals in this mountain range are supplied to the Empire. Zorne was sent here to disrupt the mining operations, thanks to her special ability." Spiritia told him.

"Don't remind me." Asche said. As the two moved forward he remembered that Zorne was the adopted daughter of Count Michael Zeppelin, and Iris' older stepsister. Zorne and Iris never really got along with each other for a couple of years now. Ironically that was around the same time that Asche was starting to get the weird vibes from Iris, and thought that there was something going on there. Asche found Zorne to be quite friendly, and both her and Trauare Wrede were best friends, despite being total opposites in some cases. Asche couldn't help but remember the first time they met…

* * *

_Flashback, four years ago – Castle Zeppelin_

_ Asche was walking through the hallways of Castle Zeppelin, holding a report for the Count on Spiritia and Freudia's progress. That was when he bumped into someone, sending the person he bumped into crashing on their butt. He was about to apologize when he heard a girl's voice shout, "Hey, watch where you're going!"_

_ When Asche looked he saw a girl with long red hair and sapphire eyes on the ground. She wore a burgundy skirt and had a sweater t-shirt with the name 'Slipknot' on it. But what caught Asche's attention was the metal gauntlet that was on her left arm, and that it went up to just past her elbow. He recognized as the Bombes Gauntlet as he wondered how the girl got it. The girl was scratching her head as Asche held out his hand saying, "Are you alright miss?"_

_ "I'm perfectly fine thank you!" The girl said as she picked herself up from the floor. Asche was a bit surprised by the girl's sudden outburst and he said, "Well, I'm sorry for bumping into you miss, uh-?"_

_ "Zorne, Zorne Zeppelin." The girl introduced herself. Asche recognized her last name and remembered, "Oh yes, you're the Count's adopted daughter. My name is Asche Klingeblatt, a member of RKS, Code RKS000 Null. I'm sorry but I must excuse myself, I need to get this report to the Count quickly!"_

_ "Hey wait!" Zorne shouted, but Asche was already running down the hallway to Count Zeppelin's office. Zorne tried to follow him but Asche was already out of her sights. Meanwhile Asche managed to get to Count Zeppelin's office where he found a man with short grey hair and a mustache going over some papers. He looked up and said, "Ah, Asche, you're late."_

_ "Sorry for the delay sir, but I accidentally bumped into your adopted daughter on my way here." Asche told him. _

_ Michael said, "Oh, so I see you've met Zorne." Asche put the file on Michael's desk and said, "Spiritia and Freudia have progressed very well. In my opinion they earned their places in RKS."_

_ "I see." Michael said. Before he could add anything to it however Zorne blew the door down shouting, "Father, have you seen-?!" That's when she saw Asche and said, "I found you Asche! I challenge you to a match between you and me!"_

_ Asche couldn't believe what Zorne just said and he turned to Michael, who just coughed and said, "Zorne." She looked around and just noticed that Michael was looking at her. She blushed and said, "F-Father, I, uh-?"_

_ As Zorne couldn't get her words out straight Michael said, "You know, that's not a bad idea." Asche looked at him, thinking, 'He can't be serious?!' _

_ Then Michael went on, "As you can see Asche, Zorne had part of her left arm replaced with the Bombes Gauntlet you helped test." At this Zorne looked quite surprised as Michael said, "I'm thinking of letting Zorne become one of the main members of RKS but she needs practice using the gauntlet. I'm hoping that you can help her with that."_

_ Asche gave a sigh and said, "Okay then. Ms. Zeppelin, would you please head over to the training room and prepare yourself?" Zorne was slightly embarrassed at being addressed so formally that she replied, "Uh, I, um okay…"_

_ When she turned around and left Asche asked, "Um, Count Zeppelin, why does Zorne have that gauntlet? I mean, it looks a bit different from the last time I saw it."_

_ Michael sighed and said, "That girl, she lost her parents in an accident, along the rest of her family. I saved her and replaced her arm with the Bombes Gauntlet, since I saw that she had magical potential in her. As you can see, I've adopted her as my daughter, so that she won't be alone in this world. I just hope she can get along with Iris."_

_ "Ha, I can understand that." Asche said. He turned around and said, "Well, I'd better get down to the training hall. Ugh, how the heck did I get myself into this?"_

_ Michael laughed as Asche left the room. As he walked Asche thought to himself, 'There are only five main RKS agents: me, Spiritia, Freudia, Sichte and Schirach. Numbers 003 to 006 are vacant with 006 being reserved for Grolla. Tia and Freu are 001 and 002 respectively, Sichte is 007 and Schirach is 008. RKS is still in the middle of it's reformation so I wonder what Zorne's code number's gonna be. Agh, I'd better not think about this too much. Better to just focus on the sparring match.' With that he headed for the training hall on the first floor, checking to see that Schwert Gewehr was with him._

* * *

Present time

Asche was a bit out of it due to his memory that Spiritia called out to him, "Asche, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a memory coming back to me." Asche replied. The two of them were busy trying to get past the outer lava mines. The monsters were not much of a problem; Spiritia nearly got blown away by a bomb created by a Zorne Bot, but nothing serious. The only thing bothering them was the heat from the lava. Asche found it more uncomfortable than Spiritia, since he didn't like extreme temperatures very much.

They managed to fight their way out of the mines and back outside. They could see a nearby volcano starting to smoke and saw several small explosions. Spiritia said, "Looks like we've found Zorne."

"Yeah, if there was one thing that girl wasn't good at, it's being subtle." Asche told her. Spiritia giggled and said, "Let's keep going."

The two made their way past the small valley, with the area being infested by Eggmets and Lizards. Asche sliced a Zorne bot in half as he asked, "Hey Tia, I was wondering, how did you meet Zorne?"

"Let's see…" Spiritia said as she blasted an Eggmet apart, "I met her back at Castle Zeppelin. We bumped into each other once and when I apologized, she asked me where the training hall was. Her reason was that the two of you were going to have a sparring match. Care to tell me why?"

"It was the Count. He wanted Zorne to be trained to be a main member of RKS." Asche said. Then he shouted, "Hey watch out!"

Spiritia managed to get out of the way as a Shield Eggmet came flying through. Asche managed to catch up with it from behind and sliced the Eggmet in half, causing the shield to crash. He shook his head and said, "Great, the monsters somehow managed to get to the mine's machinery somehow."

Spiritia went on ahead firing through the monsters that came after her. Asche went up to catch up to her and covered her back. Some of the monsters seemed to have a habit of sneaking up behind him so Asche kept a lookout, along with Lilli.

Eventually they managed to reach the gate that led to the volcano's interior. Spiritia was about to go through it when she saw Asche looking up and asked, "Asche, what's wrong?"

"Something's up there, I can feel it." Asche said. Then he looked around and saw a path that led up the volcano. Asche looked at her and said, "Zorne's probably somewhere beyond that gate. I take it you can take care of her?"

"Of course Asche, you know I'm not that weak." Spiritia said with confidence. Asche went to the path and said, "Okay then, I guess I'll leave it up to you Tia!" When he left Lilli said, "Wow, he has that much confidence in you huh?"

"It's been like that for a while now. He feels the same way about Freu and the others too." Spiritia told her. Lilli nodded as the two of them went through the gate.

Meanwhile Asche was going up the volcano path, the feeling he had growing stronger with each step. Eventually he made it to a plateau which had a hole in the center. Standing near it was something that even surprised Asche. A golem wearing a Bombes Gauntlet on it's right arm was standing there. It reminded Asche of the Zorne bots he and Spiritia encountered along the way but this one was more detailed. It lacked a face and clothes but it had Zorne's hairstyle in it, not to mention it was completely grey like the Zorne bots.

Asche had heard about something like this back at the castle. The rumor was that the Count was experimenting on golems and had involved the other Bombes gauntlet. Everyone in RKS shrugged it off since no one had actually seen what was going on but after seeing this golem today, Asche just confirmed the rumors. He thought, 'No doubt this golem's working with Zorne, but I wonder, is it combat capable?'

He got his answer when the golem raised it's gauntlet and dashed towards Asche, swinging it down where he was standing. Asche managed to dodge it in time as he took out Schwert Gewehr and blocked another attack. He thought, 'Damn, this thing is strong. It must be the one of the Count's best works!'

Asche focused and tuned his blade to be sharper and made a swing at the golem. To his surprise the golem blocked it with it's gauntlet, and the golem made a swing at him with it's other arm. Asche had to break off the attack in order to dodge as the golem made a bomb and threw it at him.

Asche saw it coming and dashed out of the way as the bomb gave off an explosion that was quite big, in his opinion. He took that chance for another attack and this time he aimed right for the legs.

For some reason the golem didn't move, which Asche wondered what was going on. He got his answer when his blade connected to the golem's leg and to his shock, the leg stopped it dead cold. Asche couldn't comprehend what was going on as the golem made another swipe at him with it's gauntlet. Asche managed to make another dodge but this time, the gauntlet's claws grazed Asche's left arm in the process.

Asche winced from the wound but kept his battle stance steady. He took a look at the area where Schwert Gewehr hit and saw that there wasn't even a scratch. A spitting noise came from Asche's mouth as he thought, 'The Count must've cast some kind of magic nullification spell on this thing's armor. It's the only thing I can come up with since Schwert Gewehr's blade is made up of my magical energy. And I don't think Freudenstachel will work on this thing either.'

The golem created three bombs and threw them at the area around him. Asche focused mana into his legs and jumped into the air to avoid the explosions. The golem took that chance and jumped up after him, it's gauntlet raised, and Asche saw what was happening and positioned Schwert Gewehr to block the incoming strike. He was successful but the force of the attack sent him crashing into the mountain interior, making him fall into a crumpled heap.

A groan came from Asche as he managed to get up, but he was starting to look horrible. His wound was starting to bleed out from the impact and he felt that his left leg was starting to hurt. As Asche dodged another bombing from the golem he thought, 'If I don't find someway to damage that thing, I'm going to end up as ashes!' His thoughts were interrupted when another bomb was sent flying his way. Asche instinctively used Schwert Gewehr to slice the bomb in half, which unfortunately for him made it explode, sending him flying.

Asche landed in a heap again as he looked like his front just got singed. He was starting to get angry when he had another vision. This time it showed him using Schwert Gewehr in it's gun form shooting off bombs like bullets, with a name saying 'Zornesbombe'. Asche laughed as he thought, "Zornesbombe? How 'original'." He knew that it wasn't a real spell since he knew all it took was a bit of focusing and a bomb would be created.

Suddenly he wondered if something like that could work, since the explosion itself wasn't magical, right? Asche decided to put this plan into action, with him changing Schwert Gewehr into it's gun mode and shouting, "Freudenstachel!"

A flurry of icicles came out and sped towards the golem. It blocked some of the shots while others just bounced of. But this gave Asche time as he switched it to Zornesbombe. The gem in the center changed to a cobalt blue with a reddish border, the same colors as Zorne's eyes and hair. Asche had to focus energy into the gun before shooting off a bomb.

Surprisingly the bomb flew off quite fast and the golem didn't have time to dodge as the bomb hit it head on, causing it to explode. The force of the explosion made it fly back, and as the dust cleared Asche saw the slight cracks in it's skin. That's when he knew that this weapon would be effective against it.

That's when he switched back to Freudenstachel and fired shots to distract it. When he did that he switched again and charged the gun to fire off another bomb to hit it. Soon enough the golem had a lot of cracks in it's skin and Asche saw that it was probably vulnerable to his sword now. He switched Schwert Gewehr to it's sword mode and made a fury of attacks against the golem. It held up against the attacks, but Asche could see the various places were the damage was starting to pile up.

The golem threw another bomb at him but he dodged it, coming in close to the golem and slicing the gauntlet right off of the golem. It was surprised at the sudden action and even without the gauntlet, the golem continued to fight, using it's left arm and legs to try and punch and kick him.

Asche had to give the Count credit, he gave the golem a fighting ferocity that seemed to match Zorne's. He wondered if the golem was really made in her image as he went for the final kill.

When the golem made another swipe at Asche he dodged and that's when he rammed Schwert Gewehr straight through the chest of the golem. Time seemed to stand still as the golem stood there with it's arm out and Asche standing there holding Schwert Gewehr. Suddenly Asche felt a sudden buildup in magical energy from the golem and thought, 'Oh no, don't tell me…!'

Asche quickly pulled out Schwert Gewehr and sheathed it. He tried to get away but was caught in the sudden explosion, which happened to send him flying into the hole. He shouted as he fell, "Oooohhh ssshhiiiiitttt!"

* * *

Meanwhile Spiritia had just beaten Zorne when they felt the explosion in the room they were in and Asche's voice shouting, "Oooohhh ssshhiiiiitttt!" Lilli said, "Wasn't that Asche's voice?"

"Asche?" Zorne asked. She didn't know that he was with Spiritia since he wasn't with her when she came in. That's when they heard a lot of noises and shouting coming from the hole in the ceiling Zorne had made before they fought. The noises got closer and that's when Asche suddenly came through the hole and landed in a crumpled heap, surprising everyone in the room. Spiritia went over and asked, "Asche! Are you alright?"

Zorne went over to see too as Asche struggled to get up and say, "I-I think so. Man, does the Count sure know how to make one heck of a golem." Zorne felt a hint of pride at Asche's words as he shook his head. That's when he noticed Zorne and said, "Hey Zorne, looks like Tia managed to beat you huh?"

"I, uh, well…" Was all Zorne could get out. Asche could see that Spiritia was still flabbergasted by his appearance and he said, "It's alright. I know Tia can be a bit rough sometimes." That was when Spiritia grabbed his arm and squeezed it saying, "What was that Asche?!"

"Yeow! See what I mean?" Asche said. Zorne laughed until she remembered that Spiritia had beaten her. She fell to her knees in disappointment and said, "Ugh, am I completely useless?"

"Zorne, if someone you love strays off the right path, don't you think it's your job as family to show them the right path?" Spiritia told her. Asche added, "And you aren't useless Zorne. That golem had the same capabilities as you, and it roughed me up pretty bad. So I'm pretty sure you have the ability to be as strong as that."

Zorne blushed in embarrassment at that and said, "…I'll back off for now. But don't think this is over you two, not by a long shot!" Then Zorne teleported out of the room after that. Asche shook his head and said, "Zorne, no matter the circumstances, she never changes."

"That's true." Spiritia said. Then she took a look at Asche and asked, "What happened to you. It looks like you ran headfirst into a bomb or something."

"That's what pretty much happened." Asche told her, "I was fighting a golem that had a Bombes Gauntlet on it. And it fought really hard, so you can guess what I had to go through."

"And that last explosion?" Spiritia asked. Asche answered, "I beat the golem, and it blew up, sending me flying into a hole, which happens to lead here apparently." Asche looked up at the hole in the ceiling. He groaned and said, "That thing was built tough, so tough that Schwert Gewehr couldn't cut through it. Fortunately my sword somehow managed to copy the Bombes Gauntlet's ability to make bombs, which help me beat the thing."

"Strange, I did too." When Asche gave Spiritia an odd look she head out her hand and a bomb formed in her hands. She threw it far away and it exploded shortly after. Asche commented, "Hmm, it's sorta like mine but I fire them fast and they explode on contact."

The two dropped the subject as Asche mumbled, "What I wouldn't give for a good drink right now." Spiritia asked, "So who's next Asche?"

Asche pulled out the piece of paper containing the locations, which miraculously survived the encounter and said, "Let's head over to were Trau is, Heiligtum des Wasserteufels (Sanctum of the Siren). Zorne will definitely tell Trau that you beat her, and that I'm with you on this Tia, so we'd better take care of her first."

"Yes, but let's head back to Haven first. I don't think you want to walk around looking like you've had a bomb go off in your face." Spiritia told him.

Asche laughed and said, "I guess you're right. Since were heading to where Trau is I'd better pick something up just in case."

Spiritia wondered what he meant by that but just shrugged as she prepared the teleportation spell. Lilli went over and whispered, 'I heard about that Trauare. It's about 'that', isn't it?'

"Yup." Was all Asche said as the three of them vanished in a flash of light.


	4. Trauare Wrede

Chapter 3 – Trauare Wrede

Asche and Spiritia had appeared at the entrance to the Sanctum of the Siren. To Spiritia's horror the part of the place, especially the entrance, had somehow sunk into the ocean. Asche and Lilli looked at her, knowing for a fact that Spiritia can't swim. On the other hand Asche can't either, which is something that Spiritia seemed to have forgotten as she wondered what she was going to do.

"Hey Tia." Asche called out to her. When she was unresponsive Asche shouted, "Hey TIA!" This got Spiritia out of her panic and said, "Asche?! What is it?"

"Here," Asche gave her what looked like an oval pendant with a water drop on it, "This is a water charm. It's something I grabbed back at Haven that can allow us to breathe underwater. We may not be able to swim but at least we won't drown when we go though the submerged parts of the sanctum."

At this Spiritia calmed down as she and Asche put on the pendants and hid them behind their clothes. She said, "Thanks Asche, I was worried there for a second." Asche sighed and thought, 'This girl really doesn't know how to prepare sometimes.'

Asche shook his head and said, "Well come on, we'd better get going. Trau is somewhere in the sanctum and I think she's expecting us."

"I agree." Spiritia said. That's when Lilli spoke up asking, "Hey, what about me? I can't breathe underwater either hunya!"

Asche thought about it for a second then replied, "I don't think it'll be much a problem. I heard that fairies have some magic casting abilities that are nature-related, so don't you fairies have a spell that allows you to breathe underwater?"

Lilli thought about it for a moment then replied, "Oh yeah, we do in fact. Hunya, I guess it must have slipped my mind."

Spiritia shook her head in disbelief as Lilli cast the spell on herself. Asche said, "Now is there anything else before we move on ladies?" When the two shook their heads Asche said, "Okay then, let's jump in." Asche jumped into the water with Spiritia and Lilli following him.

They made their way to the other end of the entrance, which happened to lead deeper underwater. There wasn't much resistance from the monsters, although they were quite surprised to see giant fish popping out of the huge pits in the floor. Asche asked, "What the heck are those things?"

"I don't know, they've must've come out when the sanctum sank." Spiritia guessed. Asche said, "We'd better ignore them, or we can try and take them out, one or the other."

They made their way through the underwater passageway and one thing the two noticed was the amount of spikes present. They lined the walls and parts of the ceiling in most of the passageways as they made their way through. Asche noted, "Those spikes weren't there before, I wonder if this is Trau's doing."

"Maybe, but one thing for sure is that we shouldn't touch them, they look deadly." Spiritia said. Asche nodded saying, "Yeah, I don't think I want to see what happens if one of us happens to fall into them."

Asche nodded and the two of them made their way through the underwater passages. To their surprise, they saw Eggmets with snorkels around which happened to be an odd sight. They got rid of them, as well as the other monsters in the area that tried to attack them. Eventually they managed to reach what looked like a grand hall. They walked around seeing as the huge hall was empty, when suddenly there was a flash and a Hydra appeared in front of them.

They were surprised to see one there and the four heads fired energy shots at them, forcing the two to dodge. Asche took a closer look and noticed that the Hydra looked unnatural. He shouted, "Hey Tia, doesn't this hydra look weird?"

Spiritia made an observation of the creature and replied, "Yes, this one doesn't look like it can move, and there's some kind of purple orb in the center of the heads. I think this is a magical construct Asche."

As Spiritia tried shooting at it she saw the shots bounce off it's skin, though one of the shots hit one of the heads making the head squirm a bit. Asche saw that as a weak point and went after the head. He slashed at it and eventually the head was cut off after a bit of fighting. He sighed and thought, 'One down, three to go.' He nearly dodged a blast from one of the hydra heads as he fell back.

During the time Asche was dealing with one of the heads Spiritia was busy blasting shots off seeing what can be hit. That's when she saw one of her shots hit the orb and it made a mark. When Asche fell back to where Spiritia was she said, "I think that orb in the center is it's weak spot Asche!"

The two dodged another round of shots as Asche said, "Okay, I'll distract the heads while you aim for the orb then." Spiritia nodded, "Right!"

As Lilli was watching them she couldn't help but think, "Aw, this makes me wish I can help Spiritia somehow, but I would need more power to help her fight." Lilli continued to watch as Asche caught the attention of the Hydra by swinging his sword at it's heads, while Spiritia was firing charged Seelegewehr shots at the orb.

Eventually the orb started to crack and with one last charged shot, the orb exploded, along with the rest of the Hydra. Asche didn't have any warning and had to use Schwert Gewehr to shield himself partially. When the dust settled Spiritia went over to where Asche was standing as he said, "*cough*, Ugh, you could've given me some warning ya know."

"Sorry, but I didn't think it would fall that quickly." The two looked and saw that there were no traces of the Hydra. Asche said, "It must be the sanctum's magic trying to protect itself somehow. Trau might have had something to do with it."

"I guess…" Spiritia said. The two moved on into the next room when out of nowhere Spiritia tripped, sending her falling into the pit in front of them. But before she fell Spiritia grabbed Asche which made him say, "What the-?!"

The two were falling and Asche saw that the pit's walls were lined with spikes. Luckily, the two were falling at a slight angle, which made them miss the spikes. Eventually they landed in a chamber, where Asche somehow landed face first on the ground, followed by Spiritia who landed on top of him. Asche grunted from the impact as he said, "Ugh, why did you grab me Tia?"

"…Uh, it was on instinct?" Tia said in a cute voice. Lilli laughed while Asche just shook his head and said, "Tia, you don't mind if you get off me, do you?"

Spiritia just realized that she was on top of Asche and said, "Uh, oh sorry." She got off of him and Asche got up, checking for injuries. When he saw there weren't any they looked around and saw that they were in a small chamber that had spikes on the walls, and the only exit was up. The two wondered what to do when Lilli noticed something and went over saying, "This is…!"

"Lilli?" Spiritia said, as the two followed her. They saw Lilli looking ecstatic over an object on a nearby pedestal. When they took a closer look they saw it was a green orb in the middle of what looked like a golden crown of sorts, making it look like the orb was being held. Spiritia asked, "Do you know what this thing is Lilli?"

"This is our forest's secret treasure! Although I didn't think it would be here of all places…" Lilli replied.

"Uh huh, you'd think a forest's secret treasure would be in the forest." Asche commented. Spiritia however asked, "The forest's secret treasure?"

"Yeah, I heard we've been watching it for a very long time." Lilli told her. Asche whispered, "An odd place to be watching it, if you ask me."

Spiritia giggled at that and said, "Well, then we have to bring it back with us, though I don't think either of us can carry it around all the time." True enough; the treasure looked like it needed to be held with both hands to be carried.

"I'll handle that." Asche said. He took out what looked like a small clear ball the size of a pearl and said, "We can hold it in this. I assume you know what this is Tia?"

Spiritia nodded and said, "A compact displacement pearl. It can carry one thing inside it, no matter the size, I think." Asche nodded as Lilli said, "Thank you Asche, with this the fairies waiting in the other forest have something to look forward too."

"Lilli…" Spiritia said softly. Then Lilli said, "More importantly, now I can fight with the two of you now, Tia, Asche!"

This caught them off guard as Spiritia said, "Huh?" Asche had a raised eyebrow as Lilli said, "I can just borrow some power from our treasure. I can do that while it's still in that pearl-thing, right Asche?"

"I guess, I mean I have seen some of the RKS members use things like teleportation stones that were still in the pearls. So I guess it's alright." Asche replied. Then Spiritia asked her, "Is that really alright?"

"With the situation we're in, my ancestors will forgive us, let me help you!" Lilli said.

Spiritia looked grateful as she said, "Lilli…thank you. I'm glad all of us are in this together. Asche nodded and said, "We can use all the help we can get you know." Lilli pumped her fist and said, "Okay then, let's go!"

With that Asche put the pearl over the treasure and it got transferred inside. Then Asche gave it to Spiritia and asked, "So, how do we exactly do we get out of here?"

"We teleport." Spiritia said. Asche shook his head and said, "Ugh, why did I have to ask?" Spiritia invoked the spell and the two of them disappeared from the chamber. A second later they ended up in the room they were in before Spiritia tripped into the hole in the floor, which happened to have been sealed off mysteriously.

Asche shook his head, trying to get the queasy feeling out of his head. Then he looked forward and saw the path split, one going forward and one going up. Asche asked, "So, where do we go? Should we split up?"

"I think so. Trau could be at the end of either of these paths. Let's see." Spiritia thought about it before she said, "Why don't you take the upper path while Lilli and I keep going forward?"

"Sounds good." Asche made a jump, which thanks to the water, he managed to reach it. He called back, "I'll see you later then Tia!" Spiritia shouted back, "Okay Asche!" With that Asche turned and made his way up.

As he kept going up the water level seemed to have stopped around a certain level. When he got out of the water he felt a slight chill from the wind that was coming in from the outside. When he saw monsters up ahead he took out Schwert Gewehr and charged towards them.

A bit later Asche entered a room where another Hydra appeared. He thought, 'Shoot, another one? How many of these things are there?!' He didn't have time to think anymore as the Hydras fired upon him, forcing him to dodge. Asche went after the heads one by one and eventually he cut off three of the four heads, but he sported a slight shoulder burn wound in the process. This left the orb open as Asche fired a few bombs at the core, which destroyed it, leaving a yellow crystal behind.

Asche walked towards it and picked it up, recognizing it as a energy crystal that had the ability to heal wounds. Asche focused and the energy seeped into him, healing his shoulder wounds. The crystal became clear right before it shattered into nothingness, as Asche thought, 'Let's just hope Tia's having a better time then I am.'

Meanwhile Spiritia was having a hard time trying to get past all the spikes that were littered everywhere underwater. She said, "I wonder if Asche's going to be alright?"

"Hunya, I think you should worry about yourself first Tia!" Lilli shouted. Spiritia saw that she was about to walk into a spike trap that littered a small pit. She managed to stop herself just in time and jumped over it. Lilli followed her and said, "What would you do without me?"

Asche was busy going though the upper parts of the sanctum and saw that it was actually pretty high up. The path he was on happened to head towards the sanctum's lighthouse, which Asche was thankful he didn't have to climb. Eventually, after going though a bunch of monsters along the way, he ended up at the bottom room of the lighthouse, which happened to be empty, though the floor was partially submerged. When he walked though the gate he thought, 'Tch, seems Trau isn't here, she must be with Spiritia right around now.'

Around the same time Spiritia and Lilli made their way though a similar set of gates and found Trauare waiting for them. Spiritia called out to her, "Trau!"

Trauare looked at her and said, "Hmm, I see that you're here Spiritia, but where's Asche? I thought he was with you?"

"He took the path up to the surface." Spiritia told her. From the look on Trauare's face she knew where he ended up. She chanted something and suddenly a golem doll appeared. Then she did the same thing Freudia did and it turned into a copy of herself, complete with spear. Spiritia thought that Trauare was going to use it to attack her when suddenly it vanished due to a teleportation spell, and Trauare said, "It would be wrong to leave him alone now would it? Though I wish I was the one fighting him, but setting for you is just as good."

Back to Asche he was considering leaving the room and backtracking to follow Spiritia, when suddenly a flash which Asche recognized as a teleportation spell flashed in the room. He turned and saw Trauare standing there, making him shout, "Trau?!"

"My mistress has ordered me to dispose of you." The Trauare golem told him, as it held out it's spear. Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and said, "So, Trau sent a golem eh. This is going to be difficult." Asche had to dodge a wave of Klageharnisch whirlpools that the golem had shot at him.

Asche closed the distance between them as the Trauare golem held out it's spear and blocked a slash from Asche. He had to admit that the golem's ability to copy everything down to the last detail, including weapons, was perfect. In his case though, it wasn't good news as the golem pushed him back and tried to spear him. He used his sword to divert the spear, although it barely nicked him in his left side.

When Asche fell back the golem started flinging Klageharnisch whirlpools again, point end first, towards him, forcing Asche to dodge and block them. Even though he was in the heat of battle Asche couldn't help but remember the first time Asche and Trauare fought each other.

* * *

_Flashback – four years ago, outside Castle Zeppelin_

_ A few weeks have passed since Zorne had challenged Asche and lost. Now Michael had asked Asche to train her for a month, after she was inducted into RKS, and things have been going quite well in Asche's opinion. He had taught her most of the basic fighting techniques, as well as how to use her gauntlet better. Now they were training outside the castle since the bombs would've made repairing the training hall quite difficult._

_ The two were taking a break with Zorne looking exhausted. A bit far off the place where they were training was full of small craters from the bomb explosions. Asche himself looked slightly singed while Zorne looked just fine. Asche leaned against a nearby tree and sighed thinking, 'It's getting there, and her technique with the bombs is getting better, I think.' That was when he heard a voice shout, "Hey Zorne, there you are!"_

_ Asche looked around and saw a girl with short light blue hair with a seashell pin in it, along with turquoise-blue eyes walking towards Zorne. On a closer look Asche saw that she was wearing a blue swimsuit with a small white jacket over it, as well as a glove with a green gem on her right hand. On the right strap Asche could make out the letters RKS on it, which made Asche realize who she was: Trauare Wrede, RKS 004 Vier and Zorne's friend. Asche heard about her, about how she was inducted into RKS about two weeks ago along with Zorne. _

_ 'It's kind of funny, I've seen her before but we've never talked face to face. Though I hear she's quite the competitive type.' Asche thought to himself. That was when he heard Trauare's voice shout, "Hey, you're Asche Klingeblatt, aren't you?"_

_ "Who's asking?" Asche replied slyly. He stood up and turned around, facing Trauare. He couldn't help but see the competitiveness in her eyes as she said, "I hear you're pretty strong in RKS, not to mention you're one of the older members around."_

_ "I see…" Asche said, "So, is there something you want to ask Ms. Wrede? I can see it in your eyes you know." Asche looked over and saw that Zorne was wondering what was going on. Trauare smirked as her Chaos Spear, Leviathan, materialized in her hand and said, "Please call me Trauare, and I want to have a spar with you, if you please?"_

_ Asche drew Schwert Gewehr and said, "A spar eh? I guess I can have a go with you Trauare, if Zorne doesn't mind?" Trauare looked at Zorne and she said, "It doesn't matter to me, I'm still tired from training."_

_ "I guess that answers that." Trauare said, taking off her jacket and throwing it to Zorne. Asche got into his fighting stance and said, "Well, ladies first. Oh, and I don't mind if you call me Asche you know." Trauare just smiled as she charged right at him with her spear._

_ About half an hour later the two of them were exhausted. Asche just barely managed to win against Trauare, with him also having various cuts all over his body. Trauare was on her knees, tired and she felt like she was in a lot of pain. Even though Asche tuned Schwert Gewehr to not cut through anything it still felt like she was cut through and through. Trauare was panting as she said, "Ha, ha, I guess they don't call you one of the best for nothing huh?"_

_ "You, you're quite amazing yourself Trauare. Where did you learn to fight like that?" Asche asked her as he got up. Trauare got up too as she said, "It's a family thing, since Leviathan is my family's heirloom."_

_ As Asche sheathed Schwert Gewehr he whispered, "Same as me huh?" Trauare asked, "Did you say something?"_

_ "No, it's nothing." Asche told her, waving it off. He walked up to her and held out his hand saying, "That was one hell of a match Trauare. You don't mind another spar sometime soon, right?"_

_ Trauare smiled as she shook his hand saying, "We will have another one soon Asche, and that's when I'll beat you!" Asche laughed until he felt the soreness kick in. He said to Zorne, "I think that's enough for today Zorne. We'll continue tomorrow."_

_ As Trauare took her coat back from Zorne she said, "Oh that's great! C'mon Zorne, I want to show you something." As Asche watched Trauare drag Zorne off he thought, 'I can see why the Count brought Trauare into RKS. She has abilities that are quite extraordinary.' He smirked to himself as he walked back to the castle._

* * *

Present time

That memory seemed to have triggered something within Asche as he was fighting against the golem. Trauare's Klageharnisch spells seems to come to mind and he somehow knew that Schwert Gewehr was now able to perform both levels of the spell. This gave Asche a plan to defeat the golem.

The Trauare golem, which had various cuts around the arms and legs, kept on attacking with it's spear relentlessly. Asche put his plan into action when he dodged a wave of Klageharnisch whirlpools the golem fired. He dashed towards the golem and made a fury of slashes, causing the golem to go on the defensive with it's spear. Asche took that chance and gave it a feint blow to the side, and when that left it open he tripped it and used the flat end of Schwert Gewehr to toss it into the air.

As the golem was flying upward Asche quickly changed Schwert Gewehr into it's gun mode and poured a lot of mana into it. He pointed it down and shouted, "Klageharnisch!" At that instant a giant whirlpool formed around Asche and quickly rose up. The golem was caught in the whirlpool and it was helpless as the spell tore it to pieces.

When the spell subsided Asche had his eyes closed as the pieces of the golem rained down in the room. Asche didn't want to see another comrade look-alike torn to pieces, he had enough of that from Freudia's situation.

As the last pieces fell and vanished, Schwert Gewehr turned back into a sword as Asche sheathed it. He became worried about Spiritia and Trauare when he remembered he kept a small teleportation stone on him for emergency purposes.

'Ugh, I may not like it but there are times where you just have to do it.' Asche thought to himself as he activated the stone. He focused his thoughts on Spiritia to get a lock on her location. Then the stone shined and Asche vanished from the room in a flash.

In the underwater chamber Spiritia had just defeated Trauare, and both of them were breathing heavily when Asche appeared in the room with a flash. He took a look and saw the two of them, and with Trauare looking much more beaten up than Spiritia, he said, "I'm taking a guess that you lost Trau?"

"*huff**huff* Yeah, I lost. I haven't had a good workout like that since the last time me and Asche sparred together, and that was over half a year ago. This just shows how stubborn Tia can be."

"That's Tia for you." Asche said, with Spiritia shouting, "Hey!" Trauare laughed and told her, "Hahaha… There's no way Zorne could've taken you on. And I see that you've managed to beat my golem too Asche."

"Yes, but you are much tougher than any golem Trau." Asche told her. Trauare sighed and said, "I get it now, I'll try believing in the two of you too."

Spiritia brightened up and said, "Then-!" Trauare told her, "If the two of you can help make our dreams a reality, I'm with the two of you."

"That's a promise we won't break, that's for sure." Asche said. Spiritia nodded as Trauare said, "…When this is all over, I want another match with the two of you."

"Sure… If it's a fair fight you want, I'll take you on anytime!" Spiritia said. Asche added smugly, "Me too. But we'll do it on different days, since I'm sure taking us both on, on the same day would be really tough."

"Haha, I'll be looking forward to it Tia, Asche." Trauare told them. Then she vanished in a flash with a teleportation spell. Asche sighed and said, "Well, I guess that's that. Let's hope Trau can convince Zorne to calm down and think."

"Yeah…" Spiritia agreed. That's when Lilli came out and said, "So how did you get here so fast Asche? I thought you couldn't cast spells, much less teleportation ones."

Asche showed them the stone and replied, "I keep this little baby around for emergencies. As much as I hate teleporting, being stranded in the middle of nowhere alone is something I don't like more. So I use this to head back to Haven on solo missions."

"But doesn't that stone have a limited use?" Spiritia asked.

"Yup, and- oh, there it goes." Asche said as the stone in his hand disintegrated into dust. Asche said, "It looks like that was the last charge. I guess I'll have to rely on Tia for the teleportation for a while, since Haven just only has one of them left."

Spiritia said, "Oh well, I guess that means we can't split up as often from now on." With that she started to cast the spell as Asche said, "I guess so. By the way, I was wondering, did anything happen during your fight with Trau?"

As Spiritia finished casting she replied, "I somehow managed to learn Trau's Klageharnisch spell, but there wasn't anything else besides that. Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Asche told her. As they teleported out of the room Asche thought, 'That's weird, I think this ability learning thing isn't a coincidence.' In a flash, the three of them teleported back to Haven to regroup.


	5. Luste Teuber

Chapter 4 – Luste Teuber

Asche and Spiritia were back at Haven getting prepared to go after the next member when they heard distant noises that sounded like explosions. They ran back outside only to see a white flying fortress floating past Haven and what looked like the fortresses magical defenses attacking the surface. Asche said, "Isn't that Sky Fortress Sleipnir?"

"Yeah and it's attacking the Empire's military bases!" Spiritia shouted, "Do you know who's controlling it?"

"Give me a moment." Asche took out the paper with the RKS members' locations and skimmed through it. He then replied, "Oh no, it looks like Luste's been put in charge of that thing."

"What?! Why would the Count do something like that?!" Spiritia shouted. Lilli looked at the two of them and suggested, "Um, why don't we go and see if we can stop her first?"

Spiritia nodded and said, "Yes, we should hurry. Let's go Asche, Lilli!"

However, Asche looked hesitant and asked, "Um, are you sure Tia? I mean, you can always go alone, you know?"

"I need you to come along with me Asche, you know how Luste is. I'm not sure if I can handle her by myself." Spiritia said impatiently. She grabbed Asche's hand and started chanting the spell. From Lilli's point of view she thought Asche looked extremely uncomfortable as she thought, 'Hunya, I wonder what's wrong with him?' The spell was finished and the two of them vanished.

A moment later they appeared on a platform on the outside of the fortress. As the spell faded Asche looked around and was looking pretty nervous. Lilli asked Spiritia, "What's wrong with him Tia?"

Spiritia had an odd look on her face when she looked at Asche and replied, "Well you see, Asche has an extreme fear of heights. What I meant by extreme, is that he can't handle heights that can kill him if he falls, like this place for instance. If he's inside a building though, like Haven, he's fine."

"Well, that's just weird hunya…" Lilli said. Asche somehow managed to compose himself as he said, "Um, well, let's go. Tia, why don't you lead?" As Asche held out his hand Spiritia sighed and said, "Fine Asche, let's get going."

Soon they found out that the fortress was, in a way, messed up pretty bad. There were spike traps and pitfalls all over the place, and some were only floating platforms. This didn't help Asche in the slightest as he struggled to maintain his cool. As they continued on, destroying monsters along the way, there were a few times Asche nearly broke down and tried to grab Spiritia for comfort, but he managed somehow. As they reached an area of the fortress where the hallway was in pieces, with pitfalls in between, and it was now outside, since the roof and walls were missing somehow.

That's when a sigh came from Asche and he said, "I think I'm fine now Tia." To prove it he took out Schwert Gewehr and held it in an offensive stance. Spiritia asked, "Are you sure Asche, you still look a bit pale."

"I'll be alright T-Tia." Asche assured her, despite the shakiness in his voice. Spiritia and Lilli watched as he dashed forward and jumped over a pit to attack an Air Boy, which he sliced to pieces. Spiritia looked concerned for a moment then ran up to catch up to him.

As the two kept going Asche tried to keep his mind off of his extreme fear of heights. One way was attacking any enemy within his reach, and the other was a memory that was coming back to him, which was the time he first met Luste, which he found to be one of his more interesting encounters.

* * *

_Flashback, three years ago_

_ "Where the heck is Tia? She said to be here at this time, so where is she?! Not to mention she's bringing in to new RKS members!" Asche complained. Freudia was with him waiting and said, "You should calm down Asche, she'll be here."_

_ Asche and Freudia were waiting outside Haven's building for Spiritia and the new RKS member. The two were sitting on a long, flat slab of stone as Asche said, "What was her name again? Uh, Luste… Teuber, or something?"_

_ "That's right. I hear Tia has been having a hard time with her." Freudia told him, "But that's only from rumors going around RKS."_

_ Asche laughed and said, "Someone giving Tia a hard time? Now that's something new." Freudia smirked at that and said, "Well, it's her first time training someone, so it's not really surprising."_

_ "I know how that feels, since the first time I've ever instructed someone was the two of you." Asche said, "Since everything worked out alright, I'm sure Tia must have the situation under control."_

_ When he turned to Freudia he noticed her blushing a bit. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Hey Freu, are you alright? You look a bit red there." Freudia became a bit flustered and replied, "I-I'm fine Asche, it's nothing."_

_ Asche thought, 'What's with her?' Then he said, "Alright then." He laid back to relax and couldn't help but glance at Freudia's back for a bit, since the tube top white dress she wore exposed her back. Asche thought, 'Wow, Freu's gotten so beautiful over the years. I can say the same for Tia too. It's hard to believe we were just kids four years ago when we just met.'_

_ That was when Asche felt a sudden surge of mana and he jumped up, nearly scaring Freudia, who was surprised to see him jump up so suddenly. She asked, "What's wrong?" as she got herself into a guarding stance._

_ "I think Tia and the new member are here." Asche told her. True enough the flash of a teleportation blinded them and a second later, two figures were standing there. Asche and Freudia were blinded and had trouble with their eyesight so they couldn't tell who they were._

_ Suddenly Asche was tackled to the ground by something while trying to regain his eyesight. This caught him totally off guard as he heard a girl's voice say, "Yay, I finally meet you Asche!"_

_ Asche finally got his vision back and took a look at who tackled him to the ground. A young girl with short orange hair, matching eyes, and wearing black cross earrings was sitting on top of him. To his surprise he saw that she was wearing a black bikini with matching long gloves and white boots with black stockings. The last thing he notices was the tiny black wings she had, which he felt were held behind her by magic. Asche asked, "Um, who are you?"_

_ The girl replied happily, "I'm Luste Teuber, and I'm one of the new members of RKS! It's nice to meet'cha! Tia's told me a lot about you."_

_ "Really now," Asche said, "If you don't mind, could you get off me please?"_

_ Luste nodded and she jumped off of him in a flash. Asche slowly got up and noticed that Freudia had a disbelieving look on her face which made him ask, "What's with the look Freu?"_

_ Freudia pointed to where she was looking at and he heard Spiritia's voice shout in a panic, "No, don't look Asche!" Too late on her part as Asche turned to see what Freudia was pointing at and was stunned at the sight. Spiritia was in the same outfit that Luste was wearing and she was desperately trying to cover herself. The two saw that she was blushing like crazy as she said, "No, stop staring at me!"_

_ "Um, why are you wearing something like that Tia?" Freudia asked her, as she too looked a bit embarrassed at the scene. Spiritia replied, "I didn't mean to wear this coming back Freu. Luste activated the teleportation spell before I had a chance to get changed! And could you please tell Asche to stop staring at me!"_

_ Freudia turned to Asche and saw that he looked like he was out of it, with his mouth open and a line of drool coming out; she figured what he was thinking about. This made her a bit angry as she created an ice block above his head and let it fall. When it hit him on the head hard it knocked him out, with the last thing he heard was Freudia saying, "Idiot."_

* * *

Present time

Asche winced at the memory of being knocked out by the block of ice Freudia made. He woke up later back inside Haven, after Spiritia got changed. She asked the two to not mention anything like that to the others, though that memory of Spiritia in that state of dress was pretty hard to forget. He was thankful to Freudia for knocking him out, since Asche was pretty much out of it by the shock. Asche smiled at that and Lilli noticed it asking, "What's the matter Asche?"

"It's nothing, just a memory coming back to me." Asche replied with a smile. Spiritia couldn't help but have a chill when Asche said that. She thought, 'What was that? A feeling of danger?'

The three managed to reach the top of the fortress, and they saw Haven in the distance with Lilli shouting, "Wow, we can see Haven from here!" Asche looked and agreed, "Yeah, it sure looks pretty." That was when they felt a sudden gust of wind and an Air Boy appeared on a floating platform. The wind the Air Boy was blowing was slowly pushing them back as Spiritia was trying to shoot it down.

Asche struggled to walk up to Spiritia and saw that Lilli was holding on to Spiritia for dear life. Schwert Gewehr changed to it's gun mode and Asche shouted, "Freudenstachel!" A flurry of icicles shot out and impaled the Air Boy, but it didn't destroy it. Spiritia followed up with her own Freudenstachel which caused the Air Boy to stumble backwards and fall off the platform. Asche and Spiritia smiled at each other for their combined effort, watching the monster fall like a brick.

When Asche took a look at the platform though, his fear nearly came back to him as he stuttered, "D-don't-t tell-ll me th-that we have to-o use the p-platforms to cross?"

"We don't have much of a choice Asche, there is a safer way but by the time we reach the place Luste would've already leveled half the Empire!" Spiritia told him. If they used the platforms they can reach the tower where the fortress' control room was, and that's were Luste was most likely to be. Asche didn't like it but Spiritia did put up a good point, and said, "F-fine, we'll do it!"

The two were jumping from platform to platform, with Spiritia and Lilli dispatching the enemies from the platforms. It took Asche all his willpower to not look down and freak out, which made him almost hyperventilate. Eventually they reached the other side, and Asche saw that it was a straight path right towards the control room's entrance. He sighed and said, "Whew, it looks like it's a straightforward path to the control room."

"Yeah it is- watch out!" Spiritia shouted as a couple of enchanted hawks swooped down carrying bombs. Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and managed to destroy the fallen bombs before they exploded, while Spiritia took out the hawks with a charged Klageharnisch spell. Asche was surprised by the hawks and said, "Tch, what a failure, not noticing the enemy."

"Don't push yourself Asche." Spiritia assured him. Lilli said, "Yeah hunya, you were just distracted for a bit, and it's not like anything bad happened."

Asche sighed and said, "Tch, I really need to learn to control myself a bit more. Grandpa's teachings haven't sunk in as much for me." Spiritia told him, "I'm quite sure Sir Siegfried taught you well, since you did save me and Freu seven years ago."

"…Thanks Tia. You know, you're quite something for a sixteen year old." Asche said. Spiritia huffed and said, "You too, Mr. Seventeen year old." Asche laughed and said, "C'mon, let's go stop whatever Luste's doing."

"Right." Spiritia said. The two of them walked through the gate and entered a chamber on the other side. They looked around and Asche said, "This doesn't look like a control room Tia. How the heck do we stop this thing?"

Spiritia was about to say something when suddenly, the wall to the right of them exploded and crumbled, exposing the chamber to the outside. Asche yelped and shouted, "What the heck was that?!"

Then suddenly Luste came flying down from above and was surprised to see Asche and Spiritia standing there. She said, "Whoa, it's Tia and Asche! Long time no see!"

Asche nearly lost his cool again at the sight of the open wall so Spiritia asked, "Luste, what are you-?" but Luste interrupted her saying, "I don't get all that tough stuff… So let's just have some fun! C'mon, let's play, let's play!"

Spiritia sighed and asked, "Luste, do you even know what you're doing?"

"Hahahaha… smashing buildings is so much fun!" Luste said playfully. Lilli shook her head and said, "…She's hopeless." Asche took a deep breath and told her, "Nope, she's always been like that."

"I'm the heroine that'll beat the evil Empire!" Luste declared. Asche looked at Lilli and said, "See what I mean?" Spiritia tried to reason with her saying, "Umm…Luste…?"

"Game start! I'll go first!" Luste shouted. Spiritia shook her head and said, "…You've got to be kidding me…!" Asche said, "Well, good luck Tia!"

Spiritia just managed to dodge a Lustatem shot from Luste as she shouted, "What?! Why aren't you helping me Asche?!"

Asche was still a bit shaky as he shouted, "I'll back you up, so don't worry!" Truthfully Asche's fear kicked in when he accidentally looked over the wall and now, he couldn't even move his legs. Spiritia said, "Lilli, can you stay with Asche? I'll deal with Luste myself."

"Sure Tia." Lilli said. As Spiritia stared firing back at Luste, Asche said, "Sorry about this Lilli. The last thing I want to be is a burden. Just give me a moment to calm myself."

All Lilli did was nod and she used her power to block any stray shots that came their way. As Asche closed his eyes the last thing Asche saw was Luste firing Lustatem shots at Spiritia, while she frantically tries to dodge them.

A moment later Schwert Gewehr changed into it's gun mode and Asche thought, "Let's just hope I can aim properly." Asche focused on the Zornesbombe spell and he aimed it somewhere close to where Luste was. He didn't want to hurt her, just distract her while Spiritia managed to get at hit in, which she had trouble doing with Luste jumping all over the place.

When he saw the moment Asche fired the bomb off. It nearly skinned Spiritia, who was shocked to see it flying past her by the way, and it hit the wall just before Luste landed, causing an explosion. Luste was caught off guard by this and Spiritia took that chance to fire off a charged Seelegewehr shot towards Luste. It hit her in the stomach sending her flying backwards a bit. Spiritia realized what she just did and shouted, "Luste!"

As the dust cleared Luste got up and said, "Owie, no fair, you two ganging up on me like that! Oh well, I guess I'll just use more mana!"

That's when they felt her power increase and at the same time, the fortress started shaking, like it was starting to fall apart. This made Asche really sick and it shook his composure pretty bad, but he somehow managed to keep it together. Spiritia was surprised by this too but didn't have much time to think about it as Luste made a huge leap over Spiritia and shot a charged, yet slow Lustatem shot towards her.

Spiritia managed to dodge it and fire another shot towards Luste, but missed as she jumped away before the spell hit her. Luste sent another charged Lustatem towards Spiritia in retaliation as Spiritia nearly dodged that one, since it skinned her arm a bit. She winced but saw that the damage wasn't too bad, since it wasn't bleeding.

Meanwhile Asche was busy trying to reorient himself as the chamber kept shaking like crazy. Lilli asked, "What, what's going on?!"

"I think Luste's increase in mana might have somehow disrupted the fortress' magic somehow. I'm not too sure since I'm not an expert at this kind of thing." Asche told her.

Looking forward, Asche saw that the fight between Spiritia and Luste was pretty much at a standstill at the moment. Due to the shaking however, Spiritia was having a hard time standing, and she had a few too many close shaves with Luste's spells. Asche thought, 'There has to be some way I can help her.'

Suddenly Asche felt something tugging at him inside his mind, so he closed his eyes and focused on the feeling. It felt familiar since it was the same feeling he had when Asche learned to use one of his comrade's spells during this little adventure. Since it happened three times already he figured which spell was coming to him. With Schwert Gewehr still in it's gun mode he pointed it at Luste and thought, 'I hope this works.'

As Asche aimed he said, "Lilli, you'd better get out of the way, since this one's going to be a big one." Lilli turned and saw Asche pointing Schwert Gewehr towards the combatants. "Um, you might want to go over to Spiritia and tell her what I'm doing." Asche added.

"Okay!" Lilli said and with that, she flew off to Spiritia's side. Luste's spells came at Spiritia much faster than before and the shaking wasn't helping with her coordination and footing. That was when Lilli approached and said, "Tia!"

"Lilli?! What are you doing here?! Where's Asche?!" Spiritia said in a panic. Lilli replied, "You need to get out of the way Tia! Asche's going to fire off one big spell hunya!"

Spiritia was shocked as she shouted, "What?!" She turned and sure enough, Asche was there holding Schwert Gewehr with two hands pointing it at Luste. She realized what Asche was going to do and she shouted, "Wait, Asche-!"

However, Asche had the spell already prepared as he shouted, "Lustatem!" and a charged Lustatem shot fired from Schwert Gewehr and headed towards Luste and Spiritia. The two dodged the shot when Spiritia realized that Asche made the shot go wide on purpose, and that it was never intended to hit Luste. That's when she realized she had subconsciously gather mana in her hand and saw that Luste was distracted, shouting at Asche about being unfair again. Spiritia shouted, "Hey Luste, catch!"

Luste instantly turned around and that's when Spiritia shouted, "Seelegewehr!" A blast of mana went flying at her, and Luste didn't have time to dodge as Asche had shot another Lustatem shot over her head. This kept her grounded and Spiritia's shot hit her in the stomach, sending her flying into the wall again. In that instant the chamber stopped shaking and that's when they knew that Luste had been beaten.

When the dust cleared Luste had gotten up on her feet, looking pretty beaten up. She struggled to walk towards Spiritia as Asche got up and walked over to where Spiritia was standing. Suddenly she bounced up looking energetic and said, "Aww, that's no fair, it was two against one!"

"Actually, it was just me firing only a few shots Luste. You were fighting Tia the whole time and ignored me, you know." Asche made the last part sound like he was pouting which made Spiritia giggle.

Luste seemed to have been convinced somehow and said, "I guess you're right Asche…Ah, I still can't beat you Tia, but it was still fun so it doesn't matter."

Spiritia sighed and said, "You get it, so can you please stop what you're doing? Promise me you'll never do anything like that again!"

Asche nearly laughed at that, since Spiritia sounded like a mother scolding her child. Luste said in a singsong voice, "Fiiine~!" As she teleported away Spiritia shook her head and thought, '…I'll never figure her out…'

Meanwhile Lilli saw that Asche was still holding in a laugh and she whispered to him, "Hey Asche, what's so funny?"

Asche looked at her and whispered back, "C'mon, don't tell me that you didn't catch that? She totally sounded like a mother scolding her child just now." Lilli took a moment to recall the conversation that happened just now and when she did, she started laughing saying, "Hunyahaha, it does sound true!"

Spiritia turned to the two after hearing them laugh out loud and she asked, "What's so funny you two?"

Lilli was about to say something but Asche grabbed her to keep her silent as he replied, "It's nothing Tia. Just a small joke between us, right Lilli?" Asche gave Lilli a look that said, 'don't say anything about that!' Lilli then replied, "Yeah, it's nothing serious Tia."

As Asche let Lilli go Tia said, "Alright then…" The two sighed in relief that Spiritia didn't decide to press any further. Asche stretched a bit and that's when he felt something from above. Asche looked up and said, "Huh? …I think something's coming."

"What was that?" Spiritia asked. A moment later two balls of light flew down from above and from what they could see, the two lights were fairies just like Lilli. They were quite surprised to see them and one of them said, "Hiya, I'm Rena and this is my sister Lina, and we're the caretakers of Fortress Sleipnir. We just want to say, thank you for beating that person."

"Yeah, she just appeared a while ago and took over Sleipnir. Then she started using the fortress to fire at the surface, which made the fortress a complete mess. Honestly, this is going to take a long time to clean up." Lina told them.

Then the two notice Lilli and they squeal with Rena shouting, "Oh my, it's Lilli!" The two fairies flew over and grabbed her with Lina saying, "It's been so long, like two years since we last saw each other, right Lilli?"

Lilli looked happy to see them to as she said, "It sure has hunya!"

Meanwhile Asche and Spiritia looked as the three reacquainted themselves as Asche said, "Well, this is interesting."

Spiritia said happily, "I'm glad that Lilli's seeing some friends of hers. Although I didn't know that this fortress was run by fairies."

"Me neither." Asche said shortly. A moment later the three fairies went back to Spiritia and Asche with Rena saying, "Oh yeah, before I forget, this is for you." Rena made a small box appear before her and handed it to Spiritia. She took it and when she opened it Spiritia saw that there was a ring with a red gem in it.

Asche took a look and felt something coming from the ring as Rena explained, "That ring contains the Silberflugel spell, but you can only use the Zwei spell right now." Spiritia looked at the ring and saw that there was supposed to be two gems, with a space next to the gem that was already there.

"The gem got damaged when that person took over and isn't useable right now, but we'll fix it a soon as possible." Lina told them. Then they flew off with Rena shouting, "It's been great seeing you again Lilli, and thank you again for saving fortress Sleipnir." As the two flew off Asche thought, 'The Silberflugel spell huh? That may be handy in the long run.'

That's when Asche turned to Spiritia and said, "Let's see what the spell does Tia."

"Sure." Spiritia said as she focused on the spell and shouted, "Zwei!" and a platform with wings appeared in front of her. She hopped on and the platform sped across the room, and it disappeared when the platform hit the wall. When she walked back to Asche and Lilli she said, "It seems I can't use any other spells while the Silberflugel spell's in effect."

"Well then, it mean's that I'll be the one protecting you when you use it then." Asche told her simply. Spiritia turned slightly red at that as she activated the teleportation spell. Asche just smirked before the three of them vanished back to Haven.


	6. Grolla Seyfarth

Chapter 5 – Grolla Seyfarth

"Ugh, this place is just nasty." Asche complained as he sliced another zombie in half, turning it into dust. Spiritia was busy blasting other zombies coming from behind them apart with Seelegewehr as she said, "It can't be helped, since Grolla's here."

The two were in a ghost town that was currently overflowing with the undead. "Makes me wonder why the heck she's here in the first place. There's dark magic oozing from all over the place." Asche said as he sliced another zombie that was in their way, "You could at least help out with this horde Lilli!"

"Eww, no way, I don't want to touch those disgusting things!" Lilli shouted from Spiritia's cross. Asche shook his head and muttered, "Girls…" He sliced a skeleton warrior into pieces as he shouted, "C'mon, let's hurry or else the zombie horde will overrun us!"

The two of them ran forward with the zombie horde hot on their trails, with a few more joining them every few steps. Eventually, they reached a pit with floating platforms and the two jumped the platforms to the other side. They turned around and saw the mindless zombies just walk off into the bottomless pit. Asche laughed and said, "Typical zombies…"

Spiritia laughed with him and said, "Let's get going, I don't think we've seen the last of those zombies."

Asche told her, "They may be dumb as rocks but they're quite persistent."

The two kept on going until they reached a whole bunch of Skull Cannons. There were also a number of platforms overhead that had Skeleton Warriors standing guard on them. Asche jumped up on one of them and sliced a skeleton warrior in half saying, "I'll go on ahead Tia."

Asche went on ahead, jumping from platform from platform, Slicing Skeleton warriors in half along the way. Spiritia tried to call out to him but found he was already gone, so she said, "Ugh, Asche you idiot!"

Lilli looked at Spiritia to see that she was a bit pissed off at being left behind. She fired of a charged shot that tore through the all of Skull Cannons. Lilli thought, 'Wow, she sure can get angry.' Lilli looked on to see Spiritia blast through a bunch of zombies with Freudenstachel.

Meanwhile Asche had managed to get past the Skeleton Warriors and jumped past a pit that had two floating platforms. When he tried to go on ahead he found the clearing blocked from the front by a barrier, and when Asche tried to go around he found that way blocked as well. He thought to himself, 'Shoot, I sure walked into this one.'

Suddenly a whole bunch of zombies came out of the ground and Asche held Schwert Gewehr, ready for their attack. To his surprise the zombies started converging on each other forming something that Asche could only think of one word, 'Disgusting.'

The zombies formed a tough looking zombie that was a mix of green and red, and was holding a matching colored sword. Where it got that Asche had no idea but he didn't have time to think about it as the warrior zombie jumped and tried to slash him. Asche dodged it and blocked another slash with Schwert Gewehr.

Holding it back, Asche said, "Sorry, but I really don't want to get personal with you!" With that Asche forced the zombie back and attacked it, but the zombie somehow managed to block it.

Asche fell back and changed Schwert Gewehr to gun mode shouting, "Freudenstachel!" A wave of icicles flew out and was aimed at the zombie. To his surprise the zombie blocked most of the icicles with it's sword though a couple of them nicked it in the legs. That didn't stop it however, as the moment the attack ended the zombie pointed it's sword at him and made a dash, trying to impale him. Asche jumped out of the way and focused his energy into creating a bomb. When he landed Asche quickly turned around and fired off a bomb in the zombie's direction.

The zombie didn't have the chance to turn around as the bomb quickly exploded from it's back, causing considerable damage. Again, despite the damage inflicted the zombie turned and came after Asche again, as he switched Schwert Gewehr back into sword mode. Asche managed to block another of it's attacks and thought, 'I need to get rid of that sword!'

Asche decided to change tactics as he went after the zombie's sword, making Schwert Gewehr's mana edge sharper with each strike. Eventually Asche managed to slice through the zombie's sword cleanly in half, which happened to catch the zombie off guard for a second. Asche smirked as he made a spin and swung Schwert Gewehr around to slice the zombie in half.

As the zombie turned back into dust Asche sighed in relief as he wiped Schwert Gewehr clean with a swipe. The barriers surrounding the area fell too as Spiritia ran up to him, looking a bit disheveled. Asche asked, "What happened to you?"

"A Skull Tower was blocking my way." Spiritia said shortly. Asche looked behind her and sure enough, there was a bunch of bones lying around from where she just came from. A stare came from Spiritia and Asche looked away from her emerald eyes saying, "Uh, well, let's just keep going. I don't think splitting up is a good idea anymore, so we won't do it unless it's necessary."

The two continued to walk forward, slaying the undead monsters and living crosses that have appeared before them, until they reach a pit that seems to lead underground. Asche and Spiritia look down and Spiritia said, "Wow that looks like a long way down."

She turned to Asche expecting him to look freaked out but was surprised to see him looking oddly calm. He was looking down the pit, squinting from time to time and then he said, "I guess there's no other way."

"Is there another way around Asche?" Spiritia asked. Asche shook his head and replied, "Nope, unless you want to try climbing that wall over there." He pointed to the rock wall that was on the other side of the pit and it was pretty high up.

"You know I can't climb something like that!" Spiritia told her. Asche smiled and said, "I know, I can't either." That's when he sighed and said, "I guess there's no choice." Spiritia was confused when Asche gave her a look and said, "Asche, what do you think-! Hya!"

Asche suddenly swooped her off her feet and was carrying her bridal style. Spiritia shouted, "What do you think you're doing Asche?!"

"You'd better hold on, since this is going to be one heck of a drop!" With that Asche jumped into the pit with Spiritia holding on to him for dear life.

A moment later Asche landed on a platform that was in the middle of a ring of spikes. He was thankful that it was a lucky fall as he looked around, only to see one exit out of the chamber. Spiritia was still hanging on to him by his neck as Asche jumped over the spikes and landed near the exit. He looked at her saying, "Were you that scared Tia?"

Spiritia blushed and said, "No I wasn't. I could've made the jump myself you know!" Asche put her down as he said, "Yeah, but I'm sure your skirt would've said something different." Spiritia wondered what he was talking about until she imagined herself jumping down the pit herself. She turned red and said, "Asche!"

Asche smirked and changed the subject saying, "C'mon, this underground tunnel must lead back up." He walked off as he took out Schwert Gewehr and sliced a Living Cross in half. Spiritia just shrugged and followed him as Lilli said, "How interesting…"

They made their way through the underground tunnel, until they managed to reach the end and started climbing up again. Spiritia took care of most of the monsters in their way while Asche and Lilli covered her back. When they managed to reach the surface that saw the walls of the cemetery, as well as the gate that led to the main cemetery of the area. Asche thought to himself, 'Sir Raimund and Grandpa are buried here. I don't want their resting place to be a battlefield but we might not have much of a choice, considering it's Grolla.'

Asche turned to face Spiritia and said, "Okay Tia, here's the plan. We go in and you try to reason with her. If that fails then I step in and make her submit, sound good? Knowing her it would probably go right to the second step in a flash."

Spiritia looked a bit skeptical as she asked, "Um, that sounds a bit rough, doesn't it Asche?"

"Sorry Tia, but Grolla's one of those people who stick to their beliefs no matter what. Convincing her is like trying to turn Lilli into a human, practically impossible unless you do something drastic." Asche told her. Lilli said, "There's a way for me to turn into a human?"

"Uh no, not that I can think of. But anyway, that's the plan, so you let me take care of Grolla when things get sticky, alright?" Asche said.

Spiritia nodded as she replied, "Okay, I'm ready when you are."

Asche gave a nod in return and the two of them walked through the gate. While they were walking through the gate fog started to roll in. Lilli said, "What's with this fog? It just came out of nowhere!"

No one said anything as they entered the cemetery. Due to the fog they could barely see what's in front of them as they walked forward. After walking a bit Asche suddenly stopped, with Spiritia bumping into him. She said, "Asche, what-?!"

"Ssshh!" Asche hissed. A moment later the fog started to clear up revealing Grolla standing near Raimund's grave. She was silent as Spiritia said, "Grolla…"

Lilli shivered and said, "Whoa…this killer instinct…!" Asche felt the same thing and readied himself as Grolla said, "…So it's you two. Why do you two oppose the organization?"

Spiritia shouted, "What you're doing is wrong!" Asche was starting to wonder if he was right to let her handle the talking as Grolla shouted back, "The two of you turn your backs on your own kind, willing become the Empire's lapdogs, and come to me with such nonsense?!"

"Hey, Tia and Asche's doing what they think is right! The Empire's got nothing to do with it!" Lilli shouted. Asche had to give the fairy points for standing up to Grolla, since most people would be intimidated by her. Meanwhile, Spiritia told Grolla, "Grolla, we're not siding with the Empire. Even so, there's got to be a better way to make everyone happy…"

"Silence traitor! Grollschwert's blade shall be bathed in your blood!" Grolla shouted as she drew Grollschwert and pointed it at Spiritia.

Spiritia was ready to fight when Asche stepped up in front of her, holding Schwert Gewehr in a defensive stance. Asche said, "Well, it looks like my prediction's correct. It's my turn now!"

Grolla had a disgusted look on her face as she said, "How despicable, you have tarnished the name of Siegfried Seyfarth by betraying the organization!"

Asche gave her a cold chilling stare as he said, "Grandfather also taught me to fight for what I believe in, and I really don't believe in RKS' motives for this rebellion very much. So, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to fight me?!"

"…You asked for it!" Grolla shouted as she charged towards Asche.

"Get behind the tombstone!" Asche shouted to Spiritia as the two blades clashed. Spiritia ran towards Raimund's tombstone and went behind it. She watched as Asche and Grolla were fighting each other with their swords as Lilli said, "Is Asche going to be alright?"

"I'm not sure," Spiritia replied, "Both Asche and Grolla are around the same level so it could go either way. The only reason Asche's won against her is because he tends to use unorthodox methods that tend to catch Grolla off guard."

"You mean he cheats?" Lilli asked. Spiritia shook her head as she said, "It's more like he uses Schwert Gewehr in a way that's hard for the opponent to, uh, anticipate?"

Lilli looked at her and asked, "You don't know much about stuff like this, do you Tia?"

"No, I don't actually." Spiritia admitted with a sigh. Lilli sighed, "Hunya…"

Meanwhile Asche and Grolla were exchanging blows, with one striking and the other blocking one after another. In another lock Asche said, "Well, well, it looks like you really want to kill me that badly huh?"

They flew apart as Grolla shouted, "Traitors only deserve death Asche Klingeblatt!" With that she sent a number of shockwaves flying at him with Grollschwert. Asche dodged each of them as he charged Schwert Gewehr. He jumped over the last shockwave and swung Schwert Gewehr down, releasing a blast of energy as he landed. Grolla jumped out of the way but was surprised by that sudden burst of energy.

Asche rarely uses Schwert Gewehr's energy burst technique but he had to go all out on Grolla, since he could practically feel her killing intent. He charged towards her and swung Schwert Gewehr down, but Grolla blocks it with Grollschwert. Asche shouted, "Is Grollschwert telling you to kill me that badly Grolla?!"

Grolla didn't reply as she pushed Asche off and counterattacked with another slash that was aimed at his neck. Asche blocked it just in time, but the awkward way he did it threw him off his feet from the force of the strike, and sent him flying. Spiritia shouted, "Asche!"

There was thud and Asche managed to land on his feet saying, "Is that all you got Grolla?!"

This fight reminded Spiritia of the first time they had a sparring match, right after Spiritia first met Grolla…

* * *

_Flashback – three years ago_

_ Asche and Spiritia were outside Castle Zeppelin waiting for a certain caravan to arrive. Asche wondered, "It's been, what, over four years since I last saw Grolla?"_

_ "I bet you're excited to see her again, aren't you Asche?" Spiritia asked him._

_ Asche shook his head and said, "Well, not really, we aren't that close Tia. The only times we've seen each other was when Grandpa and Sir Raimund got together for a chat." He shivered as he remembered, "I still remember that she's still disapproving of me as a swordsman."_

_ Spiritia gave him a confusing look when they heard the sound of a carriage coming by. Asche sighed saying, "Why did I have to come along anyway? It's not like I'm needed here."_

_ "Don't say that Asche," Spiritia told him, "You know Grolla and Miss Sichte too, and the Count said that it's better to be greeted by someone familiar than a stranger." _

_ Asche shook his head and muttered, "The Count's putting strange ideas in her head."_

_ Lucky for him Spiritia didn't hear her as the carriage came by and stopped in front of them. The door opened and the two saw a woman with long violet hair and purple eyes, wearing armor and a makeshift brown skirt, along with a sword on her back come out first. Then she helped a tanned woman with green hair out of the carriage._

_ When she got down and turned towards them they got a closer look at her. She was wearing a white tube-top shirt with sleeves hanging on her shoulders, along with black leather shorts, a blue trench skirt, and white boots with crosses on the toes. They also saw that she had gold rings on her wrist and a cross necklace. Asche said, "Well, it's good to see you again Sichte, Grolla."_

_ From the look on Grolla's face Spiritia could tell she didn't like the way Asche was addressing Sichte. However, Sichte didn't seem to mind as she said, "You too Asche-kiddo."_

_ Spiritia giggled as Asche said, "Hey, we're only two years apart so stop calling me that already!" _

_ Sichte smiled at him and said, "I'm just kidding." She noticed Spiritia and said, "Excuse me; you must be a member of RKS I haven't met yet. I'm Sichte Meister and she's Grolla Seyfarth, it's nice to meet you."_

_ Spiritia bowed and said, "My name's Spiritia Rosenberg, and it's nice to meet you Miss Sichte, Miss Grolla."_

_ That was when Grolla approached Asche and stated, "I challenge you to a match Asche Klingeblatt!" This statement surprised Asche and Spiritia while Sichte said, "Oi Grolla, you sure you want to do this now?"_

_ "I'm positive Lady Sichte." Grolla replied firmly. Asche and Spiritia looked at each other for a moment before Asche replied, "Uh, I guess it's okay…" Grolla seemed convinced and Sichte said, "Well, let's get settled in first Grolla, then you can have the sparring match."_

_ "As you wish Lady Sichte." Grolla said. Sichte said to Spiritia, "You don't mind showing us around for a bit, do you Spiritia? It's been a while since I was last here and I can't seem to remember the layout."_

_ "Uh, okay…" Spiritia said. As she led the way Asche couldn't help but say, "That's the first thing she says when we meet again huh? Heh, she's the same as always…"_

* * *

Present time

Spiritia remembered that Asche managed to beat Grolla in their sparring match, though it was quite a close one in her opinion. That's when she slapped herself saying, "This isn't the time to be reminiscing, Grolla's really out to get Asche, and I don't think all those losses are helping either."

That was when she heard a clash and saw Grolla being pushed back by Asche. She jumped into the air and shouted, "Grollschwert!" That was when eight energy slashes came at him from all directions. He managed to evade most of them but one cut his shoulder making him grunt in pain. Grolla landed and she dashed towards him hoping to end it in one slash.

Lilli looked at Spiritia and saw the anxiety in her face as the battle raged on. To Asche, the last attack had put him back on the defensive. He knew that even though Grolla was weakened, the power of Grollschwert was starting to get stronger.

As the fight went on a voice behind Spiritia said, "Um, excuse me?"

Spiritia nearly had a heart attack as she jumped around but only saw Lina, the fairy from Sleipnir. Lilli was surprised to see her and said, "Lina, what are you doing here?"

The two noticed that Lina was carrying a small bag with her in her arms. She held it up to them and replied, "I'm here to deliver the 'Eins' gem for the Silberflugel ring. It seems the damage wasn't as bad as we expected so we managed to fix it up ahead of schedule. Here you go!"

Lina took the gem out of the bag and both Spiritia and Lilli saw that it was a lighter shade of red then the one on the ring. Spiritia took off the ring and held it out to Lina, who put the gem in the space on the ring. The ring glowed for a bit then died down, with Lina saying, "There, it's all done. Now you can use both Silberflugel spells."

"Thank you very much Lina." Spiritia said. Lina nodded replying, "Well, I'd better leave now, before things with that friend of yours get any worse. Bye Lilli, Ms. Spiritia."

As Lina flew away Spiritia and Lilli turned their attention back to the fight between Asche and Grolla. Now the two combatants were looking worse for wear, with Asche have a number of cuts and Grolla looking like she was hurting very bad, and also had some cuts. Both were panting as Asche shouted ferociously, "This ends now!"

Grolla just shouted, "Yes, with your defeat!" Grolla made another slash which sent out a very strong shockwave. It was fast too but Asche pushed himself to the limit and he managed dodge it. He came up to her so fast that she was unable to defend herself, as Asche swung Schwert Gewehr horizontally into her abdomen.

Even though Asche made the mana edge dull enough that it wouldn't cut through, it still sent her flying into the opposite wall. Asche started to breathe heavily as he watched as Grolla slowly get up, and tried walking towards him. As she watched Spiritia saw that Grolla was in no condition to battle anymore. Spiritia walked up to Asche as Grolla limped towards them, using Grollschwert to support herself as she moaned, "Gah…"

Asche shouted out to her, "It's over Grolla…" Suddenly he felt an influx of mana and said, "Huh?!"

That was when Sichte appeared next to Grolla in a flash of light. She shouted in concern, "Grolla!"

Spiritia and Asche were surprised to see her arrive in the graveyard as Spiritia shouted in surprise, "Sichte?!" Asche narrowed his eyes and thought, 'Shoot, with Sichte here I won't be able to put up much of a fight here, thanks to my injuries.'

Sichte looked at the two of them and said, "Asche, Tia… So the two of you really insist on standing in our way…"

Spiritia tried to explain but Sichte interrupted her saying, "This victory is yours, you two. The next time we meet, I shall put an end to this personally." Asche spat out, "We'll see about that Sichte!"

Sichte ran over to Grolla's side and she teleported Grolla and herself out of the graveyard as Spiritia shouted, "Wait!" Asche meanwhile felt really tired as he said, "I don't think we can stay here any longer Tia. Let's head back to Haven for a while."

"Right." As Spiritia readied the spell Asche leaned on Schwert Gewehr and looked at the moon overhead. He yawned and said, "If I can guess, it's around midnight right now, since the moon's up at it's peak."

"Hmm? Did you say something Asche?" Spiritia asked him. Asche shook his head and replied, "No, it's nothing."

"If you say so." Spiritia said as she activated the spell. The two of them disappeared from the graveyard in a flash of light. As it died down a wolf howled in the night.

Back at Haven Asche managed to tend to his injuries with Spiritia's help and most of them were healed with magic. However the two were flat out exhausted and need some time to sleep.

Before they went to sleep Asche and Spiritia laid out a plan with Asche saying, "Okay, we know that Sichte's been stationed in the Fortress City of Zuverburg so we'll head over there around five in the morning. With Liebea imprisoned in the Research Tower and Schwer in who-knows-where, tackling Sichte's our best bet, since she's probably the last main opposition to the Empire."

"So where is Schwer anyway?" Spiritia asked. Asche scratched his head and replied, "I'm not sure. All it said on the paper beside Schwer's name is Schwarzer Kinderspielplatz. I'm not too sure what that is since I've never heard of it, so we'll tackle Schwer last."

"I understand." Spiritia said. The two looked over to Lilli, who was sleeping in a makeshift bed, that was a basket filled with blankets and cotton. Asche smirked at the sight as he got up and said, "Well, good night Tia."

"Good night Asche." Spiritia said. Asche waved and left the room leaving Spiritia alone with Lilli in her room. She said to herself, "Whew, we're close to stopping this rebellion, and I'm really thankful for Asche and Lilli's help." She got up and walked over to her bed, promptly collapsing on it and falling asleep instantly.

Meanwhile Asche was in his own room writing something on a piece of parchment in front of him. On his desk were several other pages of parchment that had writing on it. As he wrote Asche thought, 'Tch, this rebellion has thrown the plan off a bit. Let's just hope these changes are good enough.' That's when he recalled seeing an image of Grolla's technique in his mind back then and thought, 'So I learned her ability as well huh? I wonder…'

Asche continued writing for a bit until he was finished. He got up from his desk, blew out the candle and went over to his bed, collapsing on it like Spiritia did. Beside his bed Schwert Gewehr was leaning against the wall giving off a faint glow from the gem for a moment before it faded with Asche's consciousness.


	7. Sichte Meister

Chapter 6 – Sichte Meister

Asche, Spiritia, and Lilli had teleported into the northern city square of Zuverburg, and the first thing they noticed was that the city was infested with monsters, along with it raining pretty hard. They looked around but found that no one was around. Spiritia said, "There's nobody here, only monsters."

A Shield Eggmet came flying in and Asche drew Schwert Gewehr, slicing the eggmet in half, shield and all. As the fallen Eggmet turned to dust Asche said, "I don't see any bodies, so I think Sichte spared most of the citizens."

Spiritia was about to say something about it when a number of Spear Knights were marching towards their location. Spiritia summoned a bomb and threw it towards the knights. It exploded, killing most of them and scattering the rest. Asche said, "The streets are infested with too many monsters. It'll take way too long to reach the clock tower."

"The clock tower?" Spiritia asked, looking confused as she blasted a number of Ball Bats. Asche nodded and sliced a Spear Knight in half as he replied, "Yeah, for some reason Sichte's power seems to grow a bit when she's near one. It's something even Sichte doesn't seem to understand, but it's one of the places she's most likely to be waiting."

Lilli used her power and blew away a couple of Spear Knights that were heading their way. The three of them saw that they would be overwhelmed once they ran out of energy, so Asche called out to Spiritia and Lilli, "C'mon, we need to get out of here! Follow me!"

Asche then charged Schwert Gewehr and released a blast of mana, clearing a path. The three of them ran for it, taking monster that were in the way down.

They kept running for a bit until Asche noticed a sewer cover, and he ran over to it yanking it open with Schwert Gewehr. Asche nodded towards the hole and said, "Hurry and get in!"

Spiritia looked at him with a disbelieving look as she said, "Are you serious Asche?!" Lilli nodded saying, "Yeah hunya! I don't want to go down a smelly sewer!"

Asche hissed back, "It's either this or the monster horde! Take your pick!"

Spiritia was taken aback at Asche's tone and said, "Okay, okay I'm going!" Spiritia climbed down the hole using the ladder. Then Asche looked at Lilli and she sighed as she followed Spiritia. A rumbling sound came to Asche ears and he hurried down the hole, pulling the cover over the entrance before he descended.

When Asche climbed down the shaft he found Spiritia and Lilli waiting for him. As he landed on the ground he said, "Oh, I thought you two went on ahead already."

"I really don't know my way around the sewers Asche, and this was your idea." Spiritia told him. Lilli nodded in agreement and Asche sighed as he took out Schwert Gewehr saying, "Okay, I'll lead the way. Schwert Gewehr seems to know the fastest way to the clock tower."

Both Spiritia and Lilli wondered what the heck he was talking about, but didn't say anything as Asche led them through the sewers. The sewers also happened to be infested with monsters, but luckily there weren't as many compared to the surface.

As Asche lead the way Spiritia looked around but all she saw was the running water from the storm flowing by and the brick walls. She said, "This is one complex sewer system."

"Yeah well, since a city like this needs one." Asche said. They passed through another junction and Spiritia nearly fell over the edge. She was bracing herself when she found Asche holding on to her. He pulled Spiritia back up with her saying, "Thanks Asche."

"Better be careful. The ground's starting to get slippery." Asche told her. They kept on going when they heard some kind of noise up ahead. They rushed forward only to find a giant Bomb Turtle blocking their way. Asche nearly winced at the sight of it as he said, "Man, doesn't anyone ever come down here to check if there are any monsters?" The two then had to dodge a number of bombs that were being shout out of it's shell.

This forced them to jump into the water since the bombs were coming straight at them and exploded upon contact. Spiritia started shooting at it but her shots were being repelled by the Bomb Turtle's shell. She shouted, "My shots aren't getting through Asche!"

Meanwhile Asche was using Freudenstachel to shoot down incoming bombs as he grunted, "Tch, another magical construct, and one odd looking one at that." That was when Asche noticed that the turtle opened it's mouth every now and again and so he shouted, "Tia, can you cover me?"

Spiritia knew that Asche had a plan when he said something like that as she shouted back, "What do I shoot at?"

"Shoot down all the bombs that are heading this way. I'll take care of this." Asche told her. As Spiritia used her own Freudenstachel to shoot down incoming bombs Asche focused on creating a bomb, waiting for the turtle to open it's mouth.

A moment later the turtle gave a loud bellow and that's when Asche said, "There!" He fired his bomb and it went flying into the turtle's mouth. The mouth closed and that's when Asche and Spiritia heard a bang, with a second later, the turtle exploded in a flash.

The two covered their eyes as the light faded and they jumped onto the platform the turtle was on. Asche saw that there was no trace of the turtle and said, "Figured it was a magical construct. Must've been here as a monster exterminator, a guard, or something else."

Asche shook some of the water off of him while Spiritia used a spell to dry her clothes. Then she did the same for Asche which made him say, "Thanks Tia."

"It's no problem." Spiritia said to him. Asche led the way and they cut down a number of Ball Bats that tried to bite them. Eventually they reached another ladder which seemed to lead back to the surface. Asche said, "Let's head back up. Most of the monsters would probably be back at the Northern square trying to find us."

Spiritia looked, or more precisely, stared at him, which made Asche ask, "What, is something on my face or what?"

"You go up first. I don't want you looking up my skirt." Spiritia told him. Asche couldn't help but say, "We're trying to stop the rebellion, and that's what you're worried about?"

"Just do it!" Spiritia yelled at him, making him flinch. Asche sheathed Schwert Gewehr and grabbed the ladder saying, "Alright, alright! Jeez…" Asche started climbing as he thought, 'Let's just hope there aren't any monsters waiting for us up there.'

Asche reached the top and pushed the sewer cover off, popping his head up to check if there was any monsters around. The street was empty so Asche climbed out of the hole with Spiritia coming up after him. It was still raining which made Asche say, "Tch, you would've think the rain would've lightened up a bit…"

They looked around and saw a bunch of Spear Knights head towards them and Asche took out Schwert Gewehr, changed it to it's gun mode and shouted, "Freudenstachel!" A wave of icicles shot out and destroyed each Spear Knight before they could raise their shields. Spiritia looked for the clock tower and saw a road that led straight to it. She ran in that direction calling out to Asche, "Over here Asche!"

Asche had sliced another Eggmet in half when he heard Spiritia call for him. He ran in the direction her voice was and a moment later, the two were running down the road that was heading for the clock tower. There wasn't as many monsters in their way as they ran down the road that lead to the clock tower.

As they neared it Asche suddenly felt a surge of mana coming from the building and said, "We'd better hurry, I have an odd feeling about this."

Spiritia and Asche managed to reach the base of the clock tower and found the entrance guarded by Ball Bats and Spear Knights. Asche took care of the Spear Knights while Spiritia and Lilli got rid of the incoming Ball Bats. When the monsters were dealt with, Asche opened the door to check for anymore monsters. Seeing that the coast was clear, Asche went in with Spiritia and Lilli following him.

Inside Asche closed the door and started to stack up whatever he could find up on the door until he found the pileup to be good enough to hold the door. He saw Spiritia give him an odd look and he explained, "Just making sure no more monsters come after us."

"But what about our escape?" Spiritia asked him. Asche looked at her like she had something on her face as he replied, "Since when are we going to escape Tia? We fight to win, cause, if we don't then RKS will turn the world into their plaything, or something like that."

Spiritia and Lilli looked at him, since his wording didn't make much sense, especially at that last part. Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and headed for the stairs saying, "C'mon, we'd better hurry."

All Spiritia did was nod and when Lilli rested on one of her crosses, Spiritia followed Asche as they started climbing. To their surprise, there weren't any monsters within the tower, though they felt something which made Spiritia say, "Hey Asche, do you feel that?"

"Yeah, most likely some kind of repelling spell that Sichte put around the tower." Asche replied as they kept climbing the stairs. Apparently they weren't careful as Spiritia accidentally sprung a trap that caused arrows to shoot out of the wall. Asche instinctively grabbed Spiritia and pulled her down to the stairs, though an arrow nicked his left leg in the process. Asche winced in pain as he asked, "Are you alright Tia?"

"…Yeah, I'm fine." Spiritia said as the two of them got up. Asche winced and that's when Spiritia noticed the wound on his leg. She was about to say something about it when Asche cut her off saying, "It's okay, nothing serious. Come on, we'd better hurry to the top."

As the two managed to get up Asche noticed that the wound seemed to have hurt a lot worse than he thought, and to his luck, he didn't bring along any healing potions with him. Asche thought to himself, 'The cut must be deeper than I thought it was…'

The two eventually reached the highest part of the tower as two doors were in front of them. One of them led to outside while the other one led to the clock's interior. Asche did a quick bandaging of his leg while Spiritia tried the door to the interior, only to find it tightly locked. Then she tried the other one, which was open and Spiritia said, "Are you ready Asche?"

All Asche did was give an nod and he followed Spiritia outside. The top of the tower was surrounded by a wide platform that was like a lookout point. Asche carefully walked out to the railing and looked around the city. Parts of it were still in flames, though the monsters were quite visible. He sighed as Asche followed Spiritia around to the front of the clock.

As they approached they felt a twinge of magic and suddenly Sichte appeared in front of them. She said, "So the two of you came after all…"

While Asche got himself into a defensive stance Spiritia tried calling out to her, shouting, "Sichte!"

"…I cannot tolerate both your actions any further. We are trying to build a utopia, why can't the both of you understand that? You of all people Asche should understand." Sichte told them.

All Asche did was look at her as Spiritia shouted back, "No, that's no what you're doing!" Lilli added, "Yeah, you show off!"

Sichte closed an eye and said, "Well, well…if words won't persuade you…perhaps a little pain will." Sichte took out her knife and prepared herself for battle. That's when Asche asked, "Sichte, let me ask you something, will you do anything to fulfill that dream?"

"Of course, that's why I fight!" Sichte told him. The next question that came from him shocked everyone as Asche looked at her while rain poured down his face, "So, you would kill innocent people if it meant fulfilling that dream?"

The place was silent for a moment, then Sichte shouted, "Enough talk! As leader of RKS' strike force I will deal with you traitors. At that she started firing emerald shards from her knife at them, causing the two to dodge. Suddenly Asche felt a sudden pain from his leg wound and he cringed thinking, 'Argh, the wound must be a lot worse than I thought.'

That was when he noticed Sichte was right in front of him and she was about to slash him with her knife. He managed to block it which his sword and pushed her off as Spiritia fired a shot at her. In an instant Sichte was on the other side in a flash as Asche got himself in to a defensive position. He thought to himself, 'Tch, Die geplante Zukunft, an ability to manipulate time in a short burst. Not to mention she can fire those shards with that knife and somehow create copies of that knife with mana. Can't let my guard down with Sichte, that's for sure.'

Spiritia ran over to him as she fired shots at Sichte to keep her occupied and asked, "Asche, what happened?"

"Ugh, I don't think I'll be much help in this fight. My leg wound's much worse than I thought." Asche told her as he switched Schwert Gewehr to gun mode and shouted, "Freudenstachel."

This caught Sichte totally off guard but she managed to evade the icicles. She thought, 'Since when could Asche do something like that?! Not to mention, that was one of Freudia's spells…' That's when another wave of icicles was fired at her, but this time it came from Spiritia! 'Ha…those two are just full of surprises!'

Sichte activated Die geplante Zukunft and used it to get close to Spiritia. Spiritia couldn't avoid it as Sichte landed a punch on Spiritia, while using her knife to fire emerald shards where Asche was. Spiritia was sent flying while Asche managed to jump out of the way, though a shard grazed his cheek, with a drop of blood falling from it. Spiritia managed to get up and fire Lustatem shots at Sichte but to her surprise, Sichte deflected all of them with her knife. She shouted at her, "That won't work on me Spiritia!"

"Then maybe this will!" Asche shouted as he came after her, with Schwert Gewehr in it's sword mode. He made a lunge at Sichte but she used Die geplante Zukunft to avoid it. He spat, "That ability of hers is starting to get annoying!"

"Oh, then let me show you something else." Sichte taunted. That's when in a flash a number of knives appeared out of thin air, all aimed at him. Asche moved like crazy to get out of the way as he said, "Using your knife creating ability along with Die geplante Zukunft? That's quite crafty Sichte!"

Sichte was about to say something else but she had to dodge incoming shots from Spiritia. That's when she decided to go straight up to her and to Asche's surprise, she shouted, "Grollschwert!" A shockwave that looked like the ones Grolla creates with her sword came from Spiritia and it crashed into Sichte, which sent her flying back a bit. Sichte said, "That's Grolla's technique. Very interesting."

Asche was too surprised as he thought, 'Hmm, I really think this learning ability thing isn't a coincidence anymore.' Asche ran forward and stunned Sichte with his own Grollschwert shockwave from behind. As Sichte tried to regain her composure Asche had already ran to Spiritia's side.

As Asche turned and swung Schwert Gewehr, Spiritia swung her right hand around and the both of them shouted, "Grollschwert!"

Two lances of light came from both of them, however due to Asche's injury, his Grollschwert was slightly off and had only grazed Sichte. Spiritia's on the other hand, was right on the mark and it sent Sichte flying once again.

Sichte crashed to the ground in a heap, looking quite beaten. As she struggled to get up all she could do is groan, "Ugh…shoot." Spiritia called out to her, "Sichte, that's enough!" Asche started to really feel the pain from his wound as he knelt down in pain. Sichte looked at the two of them as she muttered, "The two…of you…really are…strong…"

That's when there was a flash and Grolla had appeared in front of Sichte shouting, "Lady Sichte!"

"Grolla?!" Spiritia shouted in disbelief. Asche didn't like seeing Grolla show up at a time like this. He though, 'Oh no, if she's here to fight then Spiritia's on her own. I don't think I can fight right now.'

To their relief Sichte said, "Stand down Grolla, victory is theirs." Grolla nodded and said, "As you wish milady."

As Grolla helped Sichte up Sichte said, "Tia, Asche, I pray for your success." Grolla added, "Both of us have been defeated. We cannot accept that you losing to another, especially you Asche."

Asche raised an eyebrow as Sichte said, "Oh, Asche, to answer that question, you already know the answer, don't you?" With that the two teleported out of the area as Asche thought, 'Yes, now I remember…'

* * *

_Flashback – three years ago_

_ A few days after Asche and Grolla's sparring match, Asche was called by Sichte to have some tea together. Asche knew that when Sichte called him for tea, she wanted to talk to him about something. This happened a few times in the past, and he didn't mind, despite his dislike for tea._

_ In one of the study halls in Castle Zeppelin Asche found Sichte waiting for him, along with two teacups and a pot of tea. She said, "Asche, glad you made it."_

_ "As if I'd miss this. If I didn't show up you would hunt me down and drag me here anyway." Asche told her as he took a seat._

_ "Hahaha…I see you remember that." Sichte said as she poured tea into both their cups. Asche nodded to her saying, "Thank you very much, Lady Sichte." Sichte smirked and said, "Hearing that from you just sounds weird. I got used to hearing that from Grolla, but from you, just plain weird."_

_ Asche smiled and said, "I agree with you there, especially since you're only a few years older than me."_

_ The two drunk their tea as Asche asked, "So, what did you want to talk to me about Sichte? The only time you call me here is if you have something important to say."_

_ Sichte was silent for a moment, which made Asche curious as he looked at her. Then she asked, "Asche, do you think a utopia for Magi is possible?"_

_ There was a moment of silence before Asche said, "What brought that up?" Sichte looked at him and he could see doubt in her eyes. He hasn't seen that look ever since she was rescued from the slums by RKS. He knew that she was looking for an answer and so he had trouble answering her. He carefully answered it by saying, "I'm not sure…it depends on your definition of a utopia. For me, living with all of you peacefully while working with the Empire is good enough for me. But in the bigger picture, as a dream, I pretty sure it's possible."_

_ Sichte drained her tea as Asche watched her during her train of thought. Then she asked, "Asche, would you do anything to protect that dream?"_

_ Asche looked at her as he drained the rest of his tea. That's when he gave a sigh and simply said, "No."_

_ Sichte looked puzzled and repeated, "No?"_

_ "No." Asche said firmly, "I'll protect that dream, but not at all costs. I won't do something like killing innocents just to protect that dream. Things like hate and revenge would come to surface and become harsh and stubborn obstacles, wouldn't it Sichte?"_

_ There was another moment of silence as Sichte was deep in thought as she took in Asche's words. For a moment there Asche thought Sichte was looking at him like he grew a second head or something like that. Suddenly Sichte said, "You know, for a fourteen year old, you sound pretty mature for your age."_

_ A laugh came from Asche as he told her, "Ha…I guess you can say that I was forced to grow up due to circumstances. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."_

_ "Oh, I know what you're talking about." Sichte said. Living in the slums most of her life, she had to stop acting like a child in order to survive. Then she said, "Thanks Asche, I'm glad we had this talk."_

_ "No problem. By the way, how's Grolla?" Asche said. Sichte replied calmly, "She's doing fine, though the only thing hurt was her pride."_

_ "That girl can never approve of me being a swordsman." Asche said as he shook his head, "All because I, in her words, 'have the lack of discipline in order to be the successor of Siegfried Seyfarth'. It isn't my fault that grandfather taught me to keep an open mind about things."_

_ "So I've heard." Sichte told him. That's when she turned her head to the door and said, "Uh oh, I think Grolla's coming this way." Asche winced and got up instantly saying, "Shoot, I'd better get going. See you later Sichte."_

* * *

Present time

As Asche finished reminiscing he noticed Lilli was beside his injured leg and from the looks of it, she was healing it. Asche asked, "What are you doing?"

"Tia asked me to heal it!" Lilli told him. As she finished healing it Asche gave Spiritia a look but was looking out to the city. That's when Asche grabbed Lilli and asked, "If you could do something like this, why didn't you do it before we fought Sichte?"

"It's not my fault hunya!" Lilli told him as she struggled against Asche's grip, "I forgot I had that ability until Tia asked me about it!"

Asche let Lilli go and she flew over to Spiritia saying, "Waaaah, Tia, Asche's being a meanie!" Spiritia turned around and shook her head saying, "Lilli…"

That's when the rain suddenly stopped and Asche grumbled, "Great, the rain stops now instead of before we fought Sichte." That's when Lilli suddenly had a change of mood as she shouted, "Anyway, we sure did it Tia!"

"Hey, it's not like you did anything!" Asche snapped. Lilli became all playful for some reason as she said, "Ah, Asche's being a meanie again Tia!"

All Spiritia could do was shake her head as she said, "Okay, so where do we go next?"

"We might as well head over to the Research Tower." Asche told them as he pointed to a long tower that was in the distance and looked like it was in the middle of a lake, "It's nearby so we'll rescue Liebea while we're at it."

"Okay, so to the Research Tower it is!" Spiritia said.

While Spiritia was preparing the spell, Asche tested his leg and thankfully, it didn't hurt at all. Asche took off the bandages and saw that the wound was completely healed. He called out to Lilli saying, "Thanks Lilli, I appreciate it."

Lilli blushed a bit and couldn't say anything as Spiritia said, "Okay, the spell's ready. Let's get going Asche."

"Roger that Tia." Asche said as he walked up to Spiritia and she invoked the spell. The three vanished from the clock tower in a flash of light, on their way to the Research Tower.


	8. Liebea Palesch

Chapter 7 – Liebea Palesch

Asche and Spiritia had appeared in front of the Research Tower, where the paper said that Liebea was imprisoned in. Both of them took a good look at the Research Tower as Asche commented, "Now this is one big ass tower!"

"Liebea's probably at the top of this tower." Spiritia told him. Asche nodded and said, "Her powers may revolve around wind and lightning, but she doesn't know how to fly just yet. Coupled with the fact that she's a pacifist her control over her powers is not so good, despite being powerful."

The two entered the tower and saw that they had a long way to climb. Asche said, "Whoever built this tower obviously didn't know what they were thinking." Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and crushed a skull with red eyes that was crawling along the ground, "Not to mention this place also happens to be infested with monsters."

Asche pointed to a nearby ladder and said, "Well we might as well start climbing. Ladies first?"

Spiritia gave Asche an icy glare that rivaled Freudia's and Asche sighed saying, "Okay, okay, I get it!"

That's when Asche started climbing the ladder first, with Spiritia behind her. As they kept climbing Asche noticed a certain hole in the wall to their left, when suddenly, a blast of electricity shot out of it. It grazed his head but Asche felt a bit of the shock. That's when Spiritia asked, "Asche what was that?"

"…Uh, I think the walls are rigged with electric traps that shoot out electricity." That's when another burst came out making Asche duck his head a bit, "I think they're coming out in timed bursts so, we'd better be careful."

As the two evaded all of the lightning traps Asche and Spiritia managed to reach a door that lead to outside. Seeing as the trail ended at the door they had no choice but to go though it. Outside they saw solid floating platform blocks with a ladder at the end that led to the floor above. Asche's fear started to kick in but he managed to reign in on that as he said, "Another experiment huh?" Spiritia looked at him and asked, "We're going to run into more things like this, aren't we?"

"Yup." Asche said as he started jumping from platform to platform, with Spiritia right behind him. Asche nearly fell off one of the platforms due to an eggmet hiding on one of them, but Spiritia got rid of it with a shot from her. Asche said, "Thanks for the save Tia."

"No problem Asche." Spiritia said. Asche jumped and grabbed onto the ladder. He started climbing up with Spiritia not far behind him. While he was climbing up he noticed a pair of Spear Knights trying to throw their spears at him. Thankfully, their aim was pretty bad and Asche took out Schwert Gewehr with one hand and transformed it into it's gun mode. That's when he took aim and fired a bomb at the pair, and when it made contact it sent the two Spear Knights flying down the tower. Asche and Spiritia managed to reach the top, which they saw was a floating platform in itself and jumped down to the platform that led back into the tower.

When they went inside they saw all the overhead traps that were in the hallway. They also saw that the hall led back to the outside. Asche took one step forward and he jumped back as the trap fell down with a clang. As it was rearming itself Asche asked Spiritia, "So, what do you think we should do Tia?"

Spiritia was silent for a bit then suggested, "I'm going to try something, so stay near me you two." Asche was quite curious as to what Spiritia had in mind as she closed her eyes and focused her mana. Then suddenly she held out her hand and shouted, "Die geplante Zukunft!"

That's when there was a flash and all of a sudden the place looked like it was bathed in a glittering mist. Asche was about to ask her something when Spiritia ran on ahead shouting, "I don't know how long I can hold on Asche! So we need to move as quickly as possible!"

The two ran through the hall and thanks to Die geplante Zukunft, the traps were frozen in time and wouldn't activate. Asche and Spiritia ran through the hallway as if their life depended on it as Asche noticed Spiritia had a tired look on her face. All of a sudden the mist faded as Spiritia ran through the last trap.

With Asche behind the trap activated and Asche made a dive and nearly got crushed by the falling spike trap. He tried to get up but found that he was still in a bit of shock at how close he was to dying. Spiritia ran over to his side as she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry Asche, I suddenly ran out of energy that I couldn't hold the spell in place."

As Spiritia pulled Asche to his feet he said, "I-it's alright Tia, I think I understand, though seeing you use Sichte's ability surprised me a bit."

"Yes, well I don't know how I learned it, I just did after defeating her." Spiritia told him. That's when Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and decided to try something. He focused on Sichte's ability and all he noticed was that Schwert Gewehr's crystal had turned green. That's when he tried swinging his sword and shouted, "Die geplante Zukunft!"

Suddenly, as Asche swung his sword, knives had appeared where he had swung and they shot forward. Asche was surprised at that and said, "Well, I guess I learned Sichte's ability to create knives out of mana." Asche sheathed his sword and jumped to the ladder nearby, and as he climbed he said, "We'd better get moving, the sooner we rescue Liebea the sooner we can get out of this place."

Asche climbed up and thought, 'Hmm, I felt that same feeling when Spiritia activated that ability, while I swung Schwert Gewehr. I wonder if time freezes every time I swing the blade.' As he climbed up he saw that the sun was rising off in the distance. Spiritia saw this too and thought, 'The sun's rising, it looks beautiful.'

At the top Asche was looking at the sunrise, and couldn't help but reminisce how he and Spiritia met Liebea two years ago, when her brother Karl brought her to RKS.

* * *

_Flashback – two years ago_

_ It was the early hours of the morning as Asche, Spiritia, and Freudia were outside Haven waiting for Karl Palesch to bring his little sister, who the Count said was going to be the new member of RKS, and to replace Schirach as RKS008 Acht, who had mysteriously vanished a month ago. Asche yawned and asked, "So, why am I here again? I thought the two of you were supposed to be the ones to welcome them."_

_ Spiritia and Freudia looked at each other before as Spiritia simply said, "This is for eating my cupcake Asche."_

_ Asche couldn't believe what he was hearing as he argued, "How many time do I have to say that it was Freu who ate it!" _

_ Freudia made a puppy dog look as she said, "Please stop saying that Asche." Spiritia defended her saying, "How can you accuse Freu of saying such a thing Asche!"_

_ That's when Asche just shook his head and thought, 'Jeez, Freu's putting up that innocent act and Tia's taking it hook, line, and sinker. I know for a fact that I saw Freu eat that cupcake.' If he didn't have his back turned to them he would've saw Freudia sticking out her tongue a bit at him with a smile. Asche decided to change the subject asking, "Anyway, Karl's little sister, who is she anyway?"_

_ "From what I heard, her name's Liebea Palesch." Spiritia told him, "I hear she's quite powerful for a twelve year old. She's just unable to control it well though, and her element revolves around wind and lightning, I think. Apparently the Count is making her a main member due to her powers."_

_ "I guess it's not surprising, since Karl's a magus. It must run in their family." Asche commented. Freudia then asked, "Tia, when did they say they were going to arrive?"_

_ "It should be around now. Maybe they ran into a few circumstances?" Spiritia said to her. That's when there was a flash of light up ahead and Spiritia said, "Ah that must be them right now!"_

_ The three of them walked over to where the light had shown and in its place were two people. One of them, a man in his early twenties, wearing a white shirt, a blue vest, and matching blue pants greeted them. He had short colbalt blue hair with pale blue eyes while wearing a pair of thin rimmed glasses. There was someone else hiding behind them but they couldn't get a good look as he said, "Sorry we're late, we ran into a few complications."_

_ "Sure you did Karl." Asche said. Karl was surprised to see Asche there and said, "Asche, I wasn't expecting you here. Still using those fake wings to travel?"_

_ "I fully don't trust teleporting yet Karl." Asche said. Then he added, "Oh, and these two were the ones to pull me out here. It's complicated."_

_ "How can eating my cupcake be complicated?" Spiritia muttered. Karl looked at her and Freudia said, "It's a long story."_

_ "I see. Well Miss Freudia, Miss Spiritia, Asche, I would like you to meet my little sister. Come and introduce yourself Liebea."_

_ That's when a girl came out from behind Karl. The three looked at her and saw that she had long pink hair with eyes that matched Karl's. She wore a long, lime green strapless robe that had matching sleeves, a pair of blue shoes, and was wearing several pieces of sapphire jewelry, which Asche sensed that they were slightly pulsating with mana. The girl looked a bit nervous and she twiddled her fingers around as she said, "Um, my name's L-Liebea Palesch. I-it's nice to meet you."_

_ The three of them looked at each other as they introduced themselves to Liebea with Freudia starting off, "I'm Freudia Neuwahl, nice to meet you." Spiritia went next, "Spiritia Rosenberg, it's nice to meet you." Asche went last, and he decided to go an extra mile and went up to her, bent down, and said in a rather polite voice, "My name is Asche Klingeblatt, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Liebea." With that she took her hand and gave it a light kiss, earning odd glances from the others._

_ Liebea gave an, "Eeep!" and quickly withdrew her hand and hid behind her brother. Asche gave her and odd look which made Karl say, "Don't worry about that Asche. Liebea's just shy to strangers. Just give it some time."_

_ "Sure." Asche said as he walked back to Spiritia and Freudia. That's when a number of stomachs growled which made the group slightly embarrassed. Karl suggested, "Okay, why don't we head inside for some breakfast?"_

_ "I second that!" Asche said. Then the five of them walked towards Haven's main building. Liebea followed her brother closely, still a bit red in the face after that little show. She looked at the hand that Asche had kissed, looking at it in a trance._

* * *

Present time

Asche smiled at that memory and that's when he heard Spiritia shout, "Hey Asche, a little help here?!"

The two of them were currently fighting a pair of gargoyle statues that were guarding the gate that led to the top of the tower. Apparently the gate won't open unless both statues were destroyed, and they proved harder to destroy. Now the two gargoyles were ganging up on Spiritia and she was slowly being backed into a corner. That's when Asche fired a number of Lustatem shots at one of them shouting, "Hey you dumb piles of rocks, over here!"

Since they were animated beings, they couldn't get the insults, but the one Asche fired on grew quite annoyed at the shots. It turned around and rounded it's claws at him in a swiping motion, looking angry.

Asche changed Schwert Gewehr back into a sword and started to attack it. As they were fighting Asche noticed that the gargoyles were tougher than usual, and they seemed more vicious. He thought, 'These are quite the guards…but they're still no match for us!'

Asche pumped mana into Schwert Gewehr to the max and made a lightning fast slash, causing the gargoyle to split right down the middle. As the two halves crashed to the ground in a heap, the other gargoyle got shot in the face by Spiritia. The shot particularly hit it in the eyes, causing it to go blind. This caused the gargoyle to go berserk and it started thrashing around, spitting fireballs all over the place and swinging it's arms around.

Spiritia had to run over to Asche's side while dodging the fireballs and the attempted swipes. She asked, "How the heck do we stop that thing?"

"…There's one thing I haven't tried…" Asche said. He turned Schwert Gewehr into it's gun mode and formed a bomb at it's tip. Spiritia looked at him like he was a lunatic shouting, "You're not serious Asche! We're going to get caught in the blast!"

"Only one way to find out Tia!" Asche shouted as he fired off the bomb, with Spiritia shouting, "Asche you idiot!"

The bomb went flying straight to the gargoyle and it hit it smack right in the head. The bomb exploded on contact and both Asche and Spiritia covered their faces from the explosion. When the dust settled, all that was left of the gargoyle was it's legs as Asche and Spiritia lowered their arms to take a look.

"Well, that settles that." Asche said, looking pleased with himself. Suddenly Spiritia hit him in the head shouting, "You really are a lunatic!"

"If it means surviving, then yes, I am. Anyway I'm sure Liebea knows we're here now, or at least knows that someone's here." Asche replied calmly. When he got up and walked towards the gate, all Spiritia could do was shake her head in disbelief as she followed him. Lilli, who was watching the whole thing, was just plain speechless at the whole scene.

The gate led to a ladder that led to the very top of the Research Tower. Asche started climbing it with Spiritia right behind her. They found a couple of wall lightning traps while climbing up but they didn't pose much of a problem.

When Asche and Spiritia had reached the top they looked around and saw Liebea sitting down nearby, with her back turned to them. Spiritia called out to her shouting, "Liebea! We've come to get you out of here!"

Liebea jumped up in surprise and when she turned around, she saw Spiritia and Asche standing there. This made Asche wonder, 'Makes me wonder if she ever heard our fight down below.' Liebea got up on her feet as she turned to face them saying, "Miss Tia…Asche…"

Both Asche and Spiritia noticed that Liebea had a hesitant look on her face and Spiritia said, "…Liebea? What's wrong? C'mon, let's go…!" Asche whispered, "Liebea…"

That was when Liebea shook her head saying, "I'm sorry Miss Tia, but I can't…"

"Hunya? Wasn't she supposed to be against all of this…?" Lilli asked, looking confused. Asche replied, "Something must've happened." He asked Liebea, "Liebea, did something happen?"

Liebea was starting to look more distraught as she struggled to say, "Brother…my brother Karl was captured by the Empire…"

This caught Asche and Spiritia totally off guard as Spiritia whispered, "What…?" Asche meanwhile was puzzled and thought, 'That doesn't make any sense…what reason would the Empire have for capturing Karl?'

Liebea went on to say, "The Count said…it was hopeless to pray for his safe return…" The saw that Liebea was starting to get worked up and she started to form tears in her eyes.

"Karl isn't a soldier Liebea, so they shouldn't do anything to him." Spiritia told her, trying to calm her down. This didn't seem to work as Liebea shouted hysterically, "How can you say that?! You and Asche chose the Empire over us, didn't you?!"

Spiritia was taken aback by that and she tried to argue, "We…haven't sided with the Empire…" For some reason this didn't go well with Liebea as she started to break down saying, "It's…it's all over then…everything…"

As the two felt a surge of mana Spiritia tried calling out to her shouting, "Wait, Liebea! Listen to me!" All Liebea did was cry as her power started to go out of control. Asche tried calling out to her shouting, "Liebea!" He tried to get close to her but suddenly a tornado appeared and surrounded Liebea. This repelled Asche and sent him flying backwards, with him falling to the floor.

When the tornado subsided Asche had gotten up and they saw Liebea's pale blue eyes glowing with power. Asche said, "Oh shoot, Liebea's out of control! We'll need to subdue her to calm her down!"

That's when Liebea started chanting some words that Asche and Spiritia recognized as the spell for Liebesstrum. Spiritia fired a shot at her, which hit her and made her lose her concentration.

When Liebea made a jump that in Asche's opinion, wasn't humanly possible, over them she started chanting again. Asche made a dash and made a swipe at her which she dodged shouting, "I don't want to be on the receiving end of Liebesstrum again, that's for sure!"

Spiritia had no clue what Asche was talking about as Asche made another swipe at Liebea, when she was trying to cast Liebesstrum again. This went on for a while, with Spiritia firing a shot every now and again.

As Asche pursued Liebea he couldn't help but think, 'Damn that girl's fast when she's like this. She may be a pacifist, but when she breaks down and her powers put her in a trance, she's one heck of a fighter.' That's when Asche swung his blade and it connected to Liebea, which sent her flying back a bit.

That's when Spiritia shouted, "Asche, what are you doing?! We're trying to make her snap out of it, not kill her!"

"I know that Tia! It was my mistake!" Asche shouted back at her. As Liebea got up again he said, "See, she's fine!"

"You can be unbelievable sometimes." Spiritia muttered under her breath.

Suddenly they felt the mana coming from Liebea rose and the wind suddenly started to pick up. Before they knew it, Liebea did something that shocked them. She held out her hands and said, "Liebesschlag." Suddenly, three electric orbs shot out of her hands aimed at Asche. He managed to avoid one and block another, but the third shot hit him on the hip, stunning him.

Spiritia was about to go over to see if he was alright, but saw that Liebea was chanting to cast Liebesstrum again. She fired a shot at Liebea which hit her in the back, but unfortunately, the spell was already cast and a downpour suddenly formed. All of a sudden, both Asche and Spiritia felt like they were being squeezed very tightly for a second, which felt really painful. However this seemed to snap Asche out of his stunned state and he got up saying, "Augh, I don't think I can take another one of those."

In an instant Asche ran towards Liebea, with Schwert Gewehr being reversed, so that the flat end would hit Liebea. All of a sudden, Liebea had cast a tornado at Asche, which he couldn't avoid and the tornado sent him flying upwards. Spiritia took that chance to fire a charged Seelegewehr shot straight at Liebea, which hit her right on her stomach, which seemed to knock the wind out of her.

With Spiritia's last shot, the 'aura' around Liebea faded, and her eyes were back to normal. She looked around, slightly confused and said, "Miss Tia…"

Spiritia went over to Liebea's side and asked, "Have you calmed down yet?"

"…Forgive me. What was I…?" Liebea said, still looking slightly confused. Spiritia was about to say something when they heard a scream and Asche had come back crashing to the ground after the tornado Liebea cast had thrown him around a bit. Asche winced as he got up and said, "Ow…that was too brutal."

Liebea suddenly remembered what she did and both her and Spiritia ran over to his side, with Spiritia asking, "You alright Asche? That didn't look pretty."

"Believe me, how it looked wasn't the worst of it." Asche said as he winced at the pain. Then he noticed Liebea who was saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry Asche, I'm so sorry!"

Asche put his hand on Liebea's head and said, "It's alright Liebea, I understand. Both of us understand how you feel. Karl's fine, I can feel it in my gut. We'll go and look for him together once this whole mess is over. There's a lot of ways we can go about finding him."

Suddenly Liebea clung to Asche in a hug, crying. Asche held her as he said, "Let's head back to Haven Tia."

"Okay Asche." Spiritia replied, starting to chant the teleportation spell. It took a bit longer than usual due to teleporting one more person. As Spiritia was chanting Asche was busy comforting Liebea, who's starting to calm down. He thought, 'Ha, Liebea sure lives up to being the 'adorable little sister' doesn't she?'

That's when Spiritia finished the spell and the four vanished from the Research Tower. A moment later they appeared back at Haven, and as the light died Spiritia noticed that Liebea was silent and said, "Liebea?"

"She's sleeping." Asche told her. Sure enough, they saw that Liebea had fallen asleep. Asche said, "It must be because she used too much power when she went berserk." Asche picked Liebea up and held her bridal style as he said, "We'll bring her to her room, then we'll figure out where Schwer actually is."

They did just that and when Asche and Spiritia tucked her into her bed, with Lilli commenting, "Hunya, how cute!" they walked back to the main chamber and Asche said, "Okay, the paper said that Schwer's stationed at a place called Schwarzer Kinderspielplatz. As I said before, I have no idea where that place is, let alone heard of it."

"Neither have I. Maybe the library has something on it." Spiritia said. Asche said, "I'm sorry but could you do that? I think I need to lay down after what happened."

"Sure, I'll call you if I need anything." Spiritia told him. He smiled and walked away, with Spiritia noticing that he was limping every now and again.

As Spiritia walked down a hallway that led to Haven's library she accidentally hit a nearby candleholder on the wall. The candleholder had tilted and as Spiritia was about to fix it, when a hidden passageway had opened up nearby. Curious, Spiritia entered the passageway and she had walked down quite a bit, until she reached a chamber that had a large magic circle on the floor. She noticed a note on a nearby pillar that read, "This circle leads to Schwarzer Kinderspielplatz (The Black Playground)".

"We can use this to reach Schwer!" Spiritia said happily. She rushed back up and thought, 'I'll wait for a bit, since Asche's resting. Oh, and I'll write Liebea a note too.'

Meanwhile Asche was in his room writing something again. He put the pen down saying, "There, it's complete. Let's just hope that this plan works, this rebellion had thrown in one too many unknowns. Well I'd better get a bit of rest, I can still feel the static in my butt."

Asche got up and went over to his bed, putting down Schwert Gewehr and hopping into bed, not knowing that Spiritia had already found a way to Schwarzer Kinderspielplatz.


	9. Schwer Muta Casasola Merkle

Chapter 8 – Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle

A few hours later, Asche and Spiritia had teleported into an underground palace which was actually called 'Schwarzer Kinderspielplatz' (The Black Playground). Asche and Spiritia looked around and saw how weird the place looked. Lilli said, "Hunya! This place looks so weird!"

"From what I read about this place, it's actually underneath the Empire's main capital." Spiritia told them. Asche said, "Well, at least that makes sense, I guess." Asche was about to walk to his right when Spiritia shouted, "Wait!"

"What is it?" Asche asked. Spiritia told him, "This place is like a trick house, so we need to be really careful."

Asche shook his head and said, "A trick house? You've got to be kidding me!" That's when he followed Spiritia as he took out Schwert Gewehr.

In the next room Asche and Spiritia were walking when they noticed that the floor was moving. They quickly made their way across it, with Asche grabbing a cross tank that happened to be lying nearby. On the other end of the room was a ladder and both Asche and Spiritia grabbed onto it. They saw that the pits in the floor led to spike traps and Asche said, "Now that's dangerous!"

Spiritia just shook her head as she and Asche climbed the ladder to the floor above. On the second floor they saw more platforms that had moving floors on them, all above a pit trap that seemed to reach one end of the hall to the next. They also saw what looked like flying red dogs overhead, which made Asche ask, "Since when do dogs fly?"

"I don't think they were dogs Asche." Spiritia told him, "Must be some kind of monster. C'mon, we better get moving."

Asche watched as Spiritia jumped from platform to platform, timing her jumps so she wouldn't fall into the spikes. A sigh came from Asche as he followed her, using Schwert Gewehr to cut down any of the flying robotic dogs that were in the way. Eventually the two reached the other end of the hallway and there was a ladder that went up.

When they reached the next floor Spiritia noticed that something had come over Asche. He was just standing there with a glazed look on his face and Spiritia asked, "Uh, Asche, are you in there?"

That's when Asche suddenly said, "Look at me, I'm Mario!" Suddenly he took off and only ran a few steps when he jumped into a floating block that was nearby. Apparently it wasn't the right thing to do since Asche jumped a bit too hard and crashed to the ground after jumping his head into the block. Spiritia rushed over to see if he was okay when Asche started to get up groaning, "Ow…what the heck just happened?"

"It looked like you went crazy there or something." Spiritia told him, "Honestly, it sort of looked like you were possessed."

Asche shook his head, still wincing from the pain as he suggested, "We'd better get out of this area quickly. I don't think I want another episode like that."

"…You know, you did sound and act like a freak back there." Spiritia said with a smile as they ran forward."

"Tia~…" Asche whined, following her. In the next room, all they found was some red thing that looked like a walking box with eyes and legs. They became all cautious as the red box approached them. It slightly surprised them that it suddenly stopped right in front of them, and when it opened up and popped out something, the two instinctively jumped back.

When the red box seemingly teleported out of the room, Asche took a closer look at what came out of it and was surprised to see a cross tank sitting there, though it having a skull and crossbones made him wonder if they should touch it. Spiritia was thinking the same thing and she asked, "Should we touch that?"

"…Since it came from an enemy, I don't think so…" Asche replied. With that the two went around it and proceed to the other side of the room. That's when Asche stopped and said, "Wait, let me try something." He turned Schwert Gewehr to it's gun mode and aimed it precisely at the cross tank.

'Hmm, this I'll let me try that spell Schwert Gewehr learned from Liebea.' Asche focused on the spell and whispered, "Liebesschlag." An orb of lightning shot out and hit the cross tank right on the mark. At that instant the entire thing exploded and Asche said, "…Well, I'm sure glad I didn't touch that."

"Same here…" Spiritia said. The two of them left the smoking room and went on their way. They encountered various things along the way, like fake walls and a few more surprise traps, but they managed to get through them despite the monsters they met along the way. Eventually they reached the gate after what they went through what Spiritia had claimed, "A fun slide."

Now that they were in front of a metal gate Asche couldn't help but think, 'Now that I think about it, we always had to go through some kind of door before we confront anyone. How odd is that?' The two went through and all they found was an empty hallway that led to a dead end. The two looked around and Asche said, "What the, the place's empty!"

Asche walked around for a bit with Spiritia watching her. All of a sudden, Asche fell through the floor shouting, "The heck?!"

Spiritia went over to where Asche fell through and nearly fell down herself. She touched the floor in front of her, only to find that her hand went through the floor. That's when Lilli came out saying, "Whoa, what the heck is that?"

"It's an illusion Lilli. Ha, I should've expected this, considering what we've been running into in this place." Spiritia replied. Then Lilli asked, "Are you going to follow Tia?"

"Of course, we need to see if Asche's alright." Spiritia told her. Lilli grew concerned asking, "But what if it's a trap?"

"I don't think it's a trap. More than likely it leads to Schwer, although I do wonder if Asche's alright. That fall didn't sound too good when he went through."

"That's an understatement hunya." Lilli said. Then Spiritia stood up and jumped into the false floor, with Lilli right behind her. As they were falling they saw that the floor actually hid a huge hole that wasn't that deep. Though as they were falling Spiritia saw Asche lying on the ground and at the rate she was falling, she was going to land right on top of Asche, feet first!"

Spiritia scrambled to somehow try to alter her fall but it was too late as Spiritia landed on top of Asche. When Spiritia regained her senses she sat that she was sitting right on top of him, who was lying face down on the ground, apparently unconscious. Spiritia hoped that she didn't hurt him and Lilli said, "You know, I don't think you hurt him badly, considering you landed on your butt Tia."

Spiritia got quite embarrassed and hopped right off oh him shouting, "Lilli!"

All Lilli did was just laugh a bit while Spiritia turned to Asche and bent over to see he was alright. She saw that Asche had a bump on his head and figured that it contributed to his being unconscious. To be safe Spiritia took out the cross tank that Asche had picked up earlier and started to make Asche drink, and he drank it despite being unconscious. Then she put him to rest near the wall and searched for Schwert Gewehr, which had fallen close to were he had fell. She picked it up and put it beside Asche, and both her and Lilli waited for Asche to wake up.

However in the meantime Asche was having a memory recollection while he was knocked out. This particular recollection was about the first time Asche, Spiritia, and Freudia had met Schwer-Muta.

* * *

_Flashback – one and a half years ago_

_ "I think the Count's putting the three of us together on purpose these days." Asche said as he walked with Spiritia and Freudia through a forest. Freudia said, "The Count likes the way the three of us work together."_

_ "It wouldn't hurt to work with some of the other members of RKS." Asche muttered. Spiritia happened to hear him and she asked grinning, "So you wouldn't mind working with Sichte and Grolla, would you?"_

_ "Not after what happened yesterday I bet." Freudia said with a smile. Spiritia laughed with her on that as Asche said, "Okay you two, enough with that. We're getting close to the destination, I think."_

_ Again, Spiritia and Freudia looked at each other for a bit until they reached a clearing on what looked like the other side of the forest. What they saw shocked them a bit, even though they heard about the situation from the Count before they left. Even though they prepared themselves for it the place still shocked them._

_ The place looked like a total wasteland, and the only thing the three of them could think was, 'What a horrid place.' _

_ That's when Freudia said, "I can't believe that anyone can live here, let alone a little girl." Spiritia looked at the place in disgust and couldn't help but wonder who would let anyone live in an environment like this one._

_ "Well, the Count said she was here, so if she is here, we'll take her back to Castle Zeppelin immediately." Asche told them. The two replied, "Right!"_

_ They walked a long way until they came by a small lake, which had a small hut near it. When they saw the hut the three knew that they had somehow found the place. Near the lake they saw a girl with short black hair, wearing brown rags looking anxiously at the water. When the three of them approached her, the girl turned to them and saw that she had light brown eyes, and that part of her hair was partially covering her right eye. The girl's eyes narrowed and all of a sudden, various maces had appeared and surrounded her._

_ The three of them recognized it as magic, but it looked a bit crude and unrefined. Asche stepped forward and held both his hands up. He said, "We're not here to hurt you Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle." Asche couldn't help but think, 'Damn, that's a long name, even when we heard it the first time from the Count.'_

_ The maces didn't let up in the slightest as Schwer-Muta replied, "Liar…" _

_ Spiritia and Freudia knew that this wasn't going to be easy and the two walked up to Asche and Spiritia said, "Please, we really don't mean any harm. We're mages, just like you. See?" Spiritia raised her hand and fired a few Seelegewehr shots into the air as Freudia did the same with Freudenstachel._

_ This made Schwer-Muta ease a bit but her eyes were trained on Asche, who still had his hands up in front. He sighed and said, "I'm a mage too, but I can't cast any spells. If you can't trust me, here." Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and was about to throw it at Schwer-Muta's feet when a huge splash came from the lake._

_ The four turned around and saw a huge octopus floating on the lake, which surprised them, since octopi were sea creatures. In one of the octopus' arms they saw a small white thing that looked like a squid struggling to get free. Schwer-Muta was shocked and shouted, "Zeppy!"_

_ "Zeppy?" The three said at the same time, looking at Schwer-Muta to the white squid that was held captive. Asche, Spiritia, and Freudia prepared themselves as Schwer-Muta shot her maces straight at the octopus. However most of the maces were deflected by the octopus' arms while the rest had harmlessly bounced off the body. That's when an arm came flying straight for Schwer-Muta and she didn't have time to raise another mace barrier so she braced herself for the impact._

_ When Schwer-Muta didn't feel anything she opened her eyes and saw Asche standing in front of her, with Schwert Gewehr out. She looked around and saw the octopus' arm nearby, sliced off thanks to Schwert Gewehr. Asche turned around to her and said, "You better take cover. We'll make sure Zeppy comes back to you safe and sound."_

_ Schwer-Muta couldn't make out what just happened when she heard a shout of, "Seelegewehr!" and, "Freudenstachel!" They turned and saw Spiritia and Freudia firing their respective spells at the octopus, which had it's attention. Asche said, "You better stay here." Then he rushed off to go join the battle, while Schwer-Muta watched._

_ As Schwer-Muta watched, she saw the three fight the giant octopus, with Spiritia and Freudia firing their spells at it from different angles, while Asche was slicing off it's limbs every chance he got, and eventually got half of them. Unfortunately the one holding Zeppy was still there and the octopus was really starting to get angry as it used it's remaining limbs to lash out at the three._

_ That's when Asche did something only Spiritia and Freudia could say was reckless. Asche used the octopus' arms to jump up high enough and deal a blow to the octopus' head, which happened to leave him open. However the octopus didn't have a chance to react as Asche swung down his sword, releasing a huge blast of energy from it._

_ The blast effectively made a huge hole in the octopus' head, killing it. As the life faded from the overgrown sea creature, it's hold on Zeppy loosened and it fell. Since the arm was holding it at quite the height it fell with Schwer-Muta shouting, "Zeppy!"_

_ The white squid braced itself to crash to the water but it never came, as Asche managed to catch Zeppy as he was coming down from the octopus. Asche managed to jump off the limp limb he was on and landed in front of Schwer-Muta. He held out Zeppy to her as Spiritia and Freudia ran towards the two and said, "I believe Zeppy's yours?"_

_ "Zeppy!" Schwer-Muta shouted as she took Zeppy into her arms and the squid squealed, "Kwui-kwui!"_

_ As Spiritia and Freudia stood with Asche he asked, "Now that all that's been taken care of, you don't mind if we talk for a bit, do you?"_

_ Zeppy had jumped from Schwer-Muta's arms onto her head squealing happily, "Kwui-kwui!" Schwer-Muta was silent for a bit before she replied with a slight blush, "…Sure."_

* * *

Present Time

Soon Asche woke up feeling a bit sore and said, "Ow, that didn't feel good…" His vision started to come into focus as Spiritia and Lilli's faces came into his view. Asche was still a bit out of it as he said, "Oh, I think I died back there, since there are two beautiful angels looking at me…"

Both Spiritia and Lilli blushed at that and Spiritia shook Asche gently saying, "Hey Asche, snap out of it."

Eventually Asche came too and his thinking was back to normal. He looked at Spiritia and Lilli asking, "Ouch…that fall looked bad, didn't it."

"Oh, you should have seen what happened after that. Tia-!" Lilli started to go on but Spiritia grabbed the fairy and had a finger over her mouth. She turned away from Asche and gave Lilli a stare that gave her a chill whispering, "We never mention anything about that ever again, okay Lilli?"

Lilli looked a bit scared as she said, "Uh, sure…" That's when Asche got up, using Schwert Gewehr to support himself as he asked, "Is everything alright Tia?"

Spiritia turned around as she let go of Lilli and replied with a smile, "Everything's fine Asche." Asche raised his eyebrows at Spiritia's odd tone, but decided to put that at the back of his mind as he said, "Well, now that I'm up and sure that nothing's broken, let's go and get Schwer and get out of this place before anymore accidents occur." He pointed to the door on the other side and said, "If you please Tia."

Spiritia did what looked like a mocking bow and said, "Of course Asche." Asche rolled his eyes as he and Spiritia walked towards the gate with Lilli trailing behind them.

When they walked through the gate, Asche and Spiritia found themselves in a strange room. Asche looked to his left and saw a huge picture of Zeppy, and thought, 'What the…?! What's a picture of Zeppy doing here?!'

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Schwer-Muta had appeared in the room, along with her pet squid Zeppy. They saw her wearing a white suit with cat ears and a fluffy tail which she usually wears. Schwer-Muta was silent while Spiritia called out to her, "Schwer!"

Lilli meanwhile, commented, "Hunya…! What a weird outfit… She's even got a squid on her head…!" Asche whispered to Lilli, "There's a reason for that Lilli."

Zeppy squealed from on top of Schwer-Muta's head, "Kwui-kwui!" Schwer-Muta looked up and saw Asche and Spiritia which made her say, "…Tia? …Asche?"

"Yeah, it's us. We shouldn't stand around here Schwer. Can you come with us?" Spiritia asked her. Schwer-Muta was silent for a bit then she shook her head saying, "…No."

Asche raised an eyebrow while Spiritia looked confused and asked, "Huh? Why not?"

That's when Asche noticed the look in Schwer-Muta's eyes and thought, 'Uh oh, I know that look in her eyes. She's upset about something.' That's when Schwer-Muta declared, "…The bonds that tie people together…are just an illusion…!"

When Schwer-Muta raised her hands Asche knew what she was about to do and shouted, "Tia get down!"

The two dropped to the floor as they saw maces fly above them and when they got up, they saw that Schwer-Muta was surrounded by a number of flying maces. Asche spat, "Shoot, Geisterwand, something I don't want to experience being on the receiving end."

"Yeah, and with the training she received in RKS, she has better control over that spell then she used to." Spiritia said, and she fired a charged shot at Schwer-Muta, only for it to bounce off the revolving barrier. When another bunch of maces came flying at them Spiritia managed to dodge them while Asche blocked and sliced them with Schwert Gewehr.

All of a sudden an ink blot hit Asche right in the face, blinding him. He shouted, "What the heck?!" Spiritia saw what happened and turned to Schwer-Muta, only to see that Zeppy was the one that shot the ink blot at Asche. Schwer-Muta took that chance to fire some maces right at Asche while he was blinded. Spiritia fired an number of shots at the maces, shooting them down but one of them hit Asche in the shoulder, causing him to scream, "Argh! The hell?!" Asche managed to wipe the ink off of his face and shouted, "Damn, that was a cheap shot Schwer!"

Schwer-Muta ignored his comment as she sent more maces flying at the two. With Zeppy shooting ink blots along with the maces Asche and Spiritia spent most of their time pinned down on the ground, trying to avoid the maces and ink. That's when Asche got an idea and said, "Hey Tia, I have a plan to stop Schwer."

Spiritia looked at him as he whispered his plan into her ear. Spiritia's eyes widened in shock but she said in a controlled voice, "Alright, let's just hope this works."

Asche winked at her and said, "Don't worry, it will." That's when he jumped up and ran headfirst to Schwer-Muta. Spiritia couldn't look as he heard what sounded like Asche hacking away at the Geisterwand spell Schwer-Muta had cast around herself. A moment later Asche shouted, "Tia, now!"

Spiritia looked and saw that Schwer-Muta was completely defenseless, with Asche blocking Zeppy's ink blots with his sword. Spiritia took that chance to fire the charged Seelegewehr shot he had

After Schwer-Muta took the hit that sent her flying into the opposite wall she got up and shook her head, seeing if Zeppy was still there. When she felt that Zeppy was still there Schwer-Muta felt completely drained of energy, so she said, "…I lost."

While Asche as checking to see if his shoulder was alright, Spiritia was relieved that Schwer-Muta stopped and asked, "Why did you just do that?"

There was a moment of silence as Asche sheathed Schwert Gewehr after seeing that his shoulder was okay. Then Schwer-Muta said, "……Birthday."

"Birthday?" The two asked simultaneously. That's when Asche suddenly understood and Schwer-Muta told them, "Mine."

Spiritia suddenly became uncomfortable, while Asche started searching his pockets muttering, "Where did I put it?" Spiritia closed her eyes and said, "Umm…now that you mention it, yours was a few days ago, wasn't it…?"

As Asche looked like he found what he was looking for, Schwer-Muta said, while looking a bit upset, "…No one…came to my party…"

Both of them felt bad at that while Lilli was silent, watching the conversation. The discomfort in Spiritia's face increased while Asche looked like he was waiting for an opening or something. Spiritia struggled to say, "That's…we've all been really busy… Everything's been so hectic lately, so…"

Schwer-Muta was silent at that while Asche mumbled, "No kidding Tia." Luckily Spiritia didn't hear him as she but up a smile and said, "I'm sorry I'm late, but…Happy Birthday, Schwer."

Asche looked at the two as Schwer-Muta looked slightly embarrassed. That's when he stepped up to her saying, "Schwer." When Schwer-Muta looked at him he pulled out a key, much to the surprise of everyone when he put it around Schwer-Muta's neck saying, "You don't mind if you keep this safe do you? It's the key to a my trunk back at Haven, and it has your birthday present in it." At that Schwer-Muta's eyes widened in surprise as Asche said, "I'm sorry that I couldn't make to your party Schwer, so why don't we have a party with everyone once this whole mess is over?"

Schwer-Muta looked quite happy as she looked down at the key hanging around her neck and said, "…Thank you…Tia, Asche." Zeppy added to that, "Kwui-kwui!"

Asche looked over to Spiritia and saw the look on her face that he was sure that said, "…Okay, that was awkward…" and shouted, "Hey, Tia, you still there?"

Spiritia looked up at him as Asche grabbed Schwer-Muta's hand and led her over to Spiritia as she replied, "Huh? Oh yes sorry about that."

"Let's get back to Haven, I'm sure Liebea's wondering where we are." Asche told her. Spiritia nodded and she started chanting the spell. As Spiritia was chanting a sudden thought came to Asche and he asked, "By the way, how did you find that secret teleportation circle that led to this place Tia?"

Spiritia had to finish chanting before she answered that question, and when she did she replied, "Oh, uh I, found it by accident on my way to the library."

Asche looked at her and said, "Okay then." He couldn't help but think, 'Man, Tia's luck sure knows when to kick in.'

That's when the teleportation worked and the four of them vanished from the room, only to appear back at Haven a few seconds later. They found Liebea waiting for them as she had woken up from her nap, with the note in her hands. Asche and Spiritia settled Schwer-Muta in with Liebea's help and the two decided to rest before going to Castle Zeppelin to confront the Count. Asche stretched and said, "Sorry everyone, but I need to head for my room for a bit. I just need to check up on something."

With that he left Spiritia with Liebea and Schwer-Muta, and headed for his room. When he made sure that the door was locked and that he was completely alone, he took out Schwert Gewehr and thought, 'Just in case something happens.'


	10. Castle Zeppelin

Chapter 9 – Castle Zeppelin

In a flash of light, Asche and Spiritia had teleported to Castle Zeppelin's outer wall, or more specifically, the top of the walkway on the wall. The first thing they noticed was that it was practically the middle of the night, despite the time actually being somewhere around noon. Spiritia looked around and asked, "Hey Asche, isn't it supposed to be daytime around here?"

"…Yeah, I think the castle's been altered somehow. I can feel dark magic coming from there." Asche pointed to the tower on the right of the castle, "It must be corrupting the castle, and mutating it in someway I guess. We'd better hurry and reach the Count before things get any worse."

That was when Spiritia noticed a cross tank on top of the wall behind them and pointed it out to Asche. He said, "Weird, I wonder why something like that would be there…"

"I'm going to go get it." Spiritia told him. Then she whispered to Lilli, "Lilli, could you please distract Asche while I get it?" Lilli didn't question her as she said, "Okay hunya!"

"Wait what-?!" Asche said before Lilli suddenly attached herself to Asche's eyes. He ran around shouting, "Lilli, get off of me!" Lilli held on tight and only when Spiritia said, "Okay, you can let go now Lilli." did Lilli get off of him. Asche was swiping at his face as Lilli bounced off of him and shouted, "What the heck was that all about?!"

In Spiritia's hand Asche saw a small cross tank, which Spiritia took out a compact displacement pearl and stored the tank in it. She did this while replying, "I just didn't want you looking up my skirt, that's all."

Asche's jaw dropped open for a moment before he closed it. Then he started to fume and he sharply turned while muttering, "You should trust me to be a gentleman at least Tia." Spiritia heard some of that from Asche but she couldn't hear it clearly, so she asked, "Is something wrong Asche?"

A sigh came from Asche as he shook his head saying, "No, it's nothing. C'mon, we'd better hurry, the sooner we meet the Count, the sooner this bloody rebellion ends." With that he took out Schwert Gewehr and started running, while Spiritia looked a bit confused as she and Lilli followed her.

While they were traveling the wall, they were surprised to see monsters roaming around the walls. There were Spear Knights, Eggmets, and various other monsters here and there. Asche and Spiritia went through them with Asche saying, "Monsters, here of all places. Where are the other RKS members?"

"…I don't know." Spiritia replied as she blasted a few eagles with Lustatem. Asche wondered about that, since he was really just talking to himself. A Spear Knight threw it's spear towards Asche and he deflected it with his sword, changing it into it's gun form and firing at it with Liebesschlag, turning it to dust. The two kept on destroying monsters as they made their way across the wall.

Soon they saw the castle's cathedral nearby, which was situated right beside the wall. They were still far from it but they were getting closer as they ran. Asche pointed it out and said, "Let's head for the cathedral. I think I remember that the top balcony is close enough to jump to." Asche sliced a berserk eagle in half and continued, "It's a lot faster than making our way to the main gate, which is much farther up ahead."

Spiritia nodded and she shouted, "Liebesstrum!" With that the enemies surrounding the two of them turned to dust at the touch of the storm Spiritia summoned. Seeing as all the monsters had turned to dust, Asche sighed a breath of relief for a second before Spiritia said, "Let's go Asche, before more monsters show up!"

"Roger that ma'am." Asche replied dully and he followed Spiritia towards the cathedral. The monsters seemed to be less, as the two ran into very little resistance. They reached a tower wall, which was on level with the cathedral on top. Asche and Spiritia saw that the balcony that they needed to reach was higher, out of reach, and that they needed to reach the top of the tower to reach it.

"Ha, let's just hope that there aren't any monsters in the tower." Asche said. Spiritia told him, "Don't jinx it Asche!" She opened the door and they saw a number of Spear Knights inside. Spiritia closed it instantly and sighed, "You just had to do that…"

"Hey, it's not my fault, really!" Asche said. He changed Schwert Gewehr to it's gun form and said, "Okay, on the count of three, you open the door Tia." When Spiritia put her hand on the doorknob Asche shouted, "Three!" Spiritia made the floor fly open and Asche fired a bomb off into the doorway. The Spear Knights inside had no warning as the bomb went off, blasting them and whatever else was inside.

As smoke rose from the openings Asche took a look inside, only to find a blackened center and a cleared out room that was smoking in several places. He coughed and said, "Well, it looks like it's all clear."

Spiritia rolled her eyes and thought, 'Ha, Asche's recklessness never seems to change over the years. I think I'm starting to get where Grolla was coming from; it's hard to see him as a proper swordsman with him being reckless most of the time.' That's when Asche popped his head out and said, "Are you coming Tia?"

"I'm coming!" Spiritia said and went in after Asche, smiling to herself.

They only encountered a few Ball Bats on their way up, which they dispatched rather quickly. A moment later they were on the top of the tower and they found two gargoyles waiting for them. They suddenly came to life just as Spiritia got to her feet and spat fireballs at them. The two dodged and split up, each one taking on a gargoyle.

Asche fought like crazy trying to end the fight quickly, aiming for the gargoyle's hands and head. The arms were gone but the fireballs were being shot at him with increased ferocity that he couldn't get close enough for a finishing blow, and all the dodging didn't give him enough time to switch Schwert Gewehr to it's gun form. He thought, 'Damn, I'm going to end up as cooked meat if I don't do something.' Asche wanted to see how Spiritia was doing but he knew that the moment he looked away, he was dead meat.

Suddenly there was an explosion and in the corner of his eye, saw that the gargoyle Spiritia was fighting blow up into pieces. Apparently the shock caused the gargoyle he was fighting to stop it's fireball barrage due to the shockwave of the explosion. This gave him the chance to change Schwert Gewehr and in an instant, he fired a constant barrage of Freudenstachel shots at the gargoyle, until if fell apart from the icicle barrage.

There was a moment of silence as the two looked at the piles of rock that used to be the gargoyle statues. Then Asche said, "Well, let's get going shall we?"

Spiritia nodded and went over to the edge that was facing the back of the cathedral. Asche looked over, albeit hesitantly, and checked the height and distance between the edge and the cathedral's balcony. Thankfully the height and distance were close enough that he could jump from the edge to the balcony without injuring himself. However he looked at Spiritia and wondered if she would be able to make it.

Spiritia herself wondered if she would be able to make the jump. She had faith in her abilities, but like anyone else, she had her doubts if she would be able to make it. She didn't have time to think about it as Asche swept her off her feet again and, with help from him infusing mana into his legs, jumped to the balcony before Spiritia could say anything. All she did was close her eyes and hold on tight, hoping that Asche wouldn't miss and turn them into red splats on the ground.

The jump proved to be successful, as Asche had landed on the balcony safely with Spiritia in his arms. She opened her eyes and saw that they were perfectly fine, with Lilli flying out giving them an odd grin on her face. As Asche put Spiritia back down on the ground, all Lilli said was, "Humans are more interesting than I thought…"

When Lilli flew back to Spiritia's cross she managed to snap out of her momentary trance and shouted, "Give me some warning before you do something like that Asche!"

"Sorry about that. It's just that if I waited any longer I might've freaked out and would've changed my mind." Asche told her, "You know how it is with me and extreme heights."

That's when Spiritia shook his head and said, "Ha, I'm starting to wonder if bringing you along was a great idea." Asche laughed and said, "C'mon, I would've followed you whether you liked it or not, you know."

"Yes, yes…" Spiritia said with a sigh. They looked at the door that led to the inside of the cathedral when Asche felt something. He thought, 'What…? What was that just now? Is something inside there?'

Before he knew it Spiritia had opened the door and entered the cathedral. Asche tried to follow when suddenly, the door slammed itself shut and a barrier had formed around it. Asche pounded at the door and could hear Spiritia doing the same thing when he shouted, "Hey Tia, are you alright?!"

"I'm fine Asche, but I can't open the door." Spiritia said and Asche could hear Spiritia still struggling to open it. He even heard a few blasts of her magic hit the door but nothing happened. Asche shouted, "Forget it Tia, I'll find some other way so just keep going!"

There was a moment of silence before Spiritia replied, "…Alright, be careful Asche."

"Aren't I always?" Asche teasingly replied. When he heard Spiritia's footsteps walk away Asche looked around and thought, 'I wonder, where the heck to I go now?' That's when he noticed that a number of bricks were sticking out on both sides of the door, which looked like they led straight to the roof. 'Well, I guess there's not much of a choice…' Asche thought to himself and he started climbing.

Eventually he managed to reach the roof and stood on the flat part that was in the center. He sighed and looked up at the faux moon overhead thinking, 'To think this place used to look more homely.'

Asche shook his head and started to walk forward a bit. That's when he suddenly got a chill down his spine and whipped around, Schwert Gewehr in his hands. However there was nothing there and he thought, 'Tch, is it just me or am I getting paranoid lately?' Asche shook his head and started to walk forward.

Now as he was walking he heard soft footsteps that normal people wouldn't be able to hear. With Asche however, he heard them loud enough thanks to his training. All of a sudden Asche swung Schwert Gewehr around quickly and there was a sudden clang as Schwert Gewehr had hit something that was invisible.

The invisibility disappeared revealing an angel statue that had a metal sword in it's hands, which was blocking Asche's sword. Asche spat, "Figured as much."

Then he pulled Schwert Gewehr back and jumped away a bit, putting some distance between himself and the statue. Taking a closer look he recognized the statue as one of the two that were situated at the entrance of the cathedral, though without the sword.

That's when he felt a slight breeze from behind and when he looked, he saw the other statue just landing right behind him, with an identical sword in it's hands. Asche said, "Great, just great. Either the dark magic's starting to affect the castle's objects, or the Count sent them to stop me!"

Asche had to dodge out of the way when the angel statue from behind came at him with it's sword. A second later Asche had to bring his sword around to block the attempted slash from the other statue. He pushed the statue away as the other one tried to stab him in the back, but Asche managed to evade it, but getting a slight cut to his left side.

The two statues suddenly flew into the air and Asche thought, 'Great, these things decide to fly now?!' The statues were now dive-bombing him one at a time and all Asche could do was block each strike and before he could strike back the other statue would swoop in and stop him from retaliating. This went on for a bit when Asche got a lucky strike in and cut off a wing from one of the statues.

It landed on the roof along with the other statue as Asche said, "Can't fly without both your wings huh?" Asche took that chance to switch Schwert Gewehr to it's gun form and started firing Freudenstachel shots rapidly at the injured statue. The other one stepped in and attempted to deflect the shots with it's sword. It managed to deflect most of them but some shots pierced through it's wings, making it unable to fly.

The sudden loss of the statue's wings left the other one open, and Asche saw that the statue was trying to regenerate it's wing, using the stone on the roof. Asche took that chance to go around and fired off a bomb at the statue. To his surprise the wingless statue stepped in and took the blow, causing an explosion and turning the statue into a pile of rubble.

As Asche watched the statue crumble he thought, 'Well, at least it takes care of one of them.' He turned his attention to the other statue and saw that it had regenerated it's wing and now was in an offensive stance. Asche readied his sword in retaliation as the statue dashed towards him, sword poised to stab.

Asche sidestepped it and tried to slash it, but the statue suddenly blasted into the air just before Schwert Gewehr made contact. Quickly, Asche changed Schwert Gewehr and started firing Lustatem shots into the air, trying to shoot down the statue. The statue however was fast enough to evade most of the shots, but one of them skinned one of it's wings, which made it come in and land on the roof.

Asche took that chance to slice off both of it's wings while dodging the blade and thought, 'Now I'd better hurry up and destroy it before it somehow regenerates it's wings!'

Suddenly the statue made a slash to Asche's side which he blocked, but it sent him flying quite a bit. He kept rolling and he nearly fell off from the roof if he didn't jam Schwert Gewehr down, holding onto it as he got back up. Asche managed to get back up and rushed back to where the statue was.

When he got back on the flat part of the roof he was greeted to a strange sight. The statue was right beside the pile of rubble that used to be it's twin and both were enshrouded by a dark aura. Suddenly darkness surrounded them and a moment later, the darkness subsided, revealing that the statue fused with the rubble, now with four arms and four wings, holding both swords in two hands. Asche could practically feel the power emanating from the statue and thought, 'Gawd, things just had to get worse!'

That's when the statue rushed forward and slashed down towards Asche. He stood his ground and blocked it with Schwert Gewehr, but he was starting to loose ground due to the statue's power. Asche was starting to bend under the pressure and was about to give up when he thought he heard Spiritia's scream.

Inside the cathedral Spiritia was fighting against the Cross Wall and had wore it down to half strength. Lilli was exhausted from helping Spiritia out and fighting on small platforms over a bottomless pit, which shocked Spiritia earlier, was starting to push her on the edge. She nearly fell trying to avoid the Living Crosses being flung at her by the wall, which is why she screamed in surprise. She quickly regained her composure and started firing back at the wall's core thinking, 'I can't fall here!'

Back on the roof something snapped within Asche hearing Spiritia scream. The mana flow within his body and Schwert Gewehr started to increase and slowly, Asche started pushing the statue back. If anyone could see him now they saw his eyes start to glow red that lined the irises, due to the increase in power. With a cry, he threw off the statue and started to attack it with an increased ferocity, forcing it on the defensive.

The statue started to block all of Asche's attacks with one of it's swords while it swung the other one at him. He jumped out of the way and swung around the statue, and gave the statue a mana blast from behind, effectively blowing off it's four wings. Before Asche could deal a finishing blow the statue swung around and tried to take Asche's head in the swing. Asche dodged it and pulled back and the exchange of blows continued.

Asche was starting to feel some discomfort and thought, 'Shoot, the increase in mana is starting to put a strain on my body. I need to end this quickly!' Putting more focus into his strikes Asche slashed off an arm when the statue tried to punch him. It tried to punch him again but the end result was the same, and now the statue only had it's two swords to attack him with.

The strain was starting to get stronger and even though Asche was moving and attacking with more power, each move or strike was starting to hurt more, bit by bit. He remembered how this felt like when he was training back at his grandfather's in the past.

* * *

_Flashback, 10 years ago_

_ A seven year old Asche was practicing with Schwert Gewehr while an old man with short grey hair and purple eyes watched him. Asche was currently in desperation mode and mana was flowing through him and his sword at an increased amount. Suddenly Asche felt a sudden pain throughout his body and he dropped Schwert Gewehr, kneeling on the ground. The man said, "Alright, that's seems to be your limit for now."_

_ Asche said, "Yes Master Siegfried."_

_ Siegfried smiled and said, "I thought I told you not to call me that Asche." Asche sighed and said, "Sorry about that Grandpa, it's just that Grolla said-."_

_ "That girl still telling you stuff like that? Jeez, I was hoping my brother would let up on Grolla a bit, but that seems unlikely. Training her the way he does is good, but I fear it might make her socially inept when she grows up." Siegfried said, interrupting Asche, "Don't worry about it Asche."_

_ Asche sighed a breath of relief and said, "Thanks Grandpa."_

_ "No problem. Now to tell you about that ability you just used. I don't know what it's really called, so I just called it Overdrive. It's a sudden increase in mana that reinforces your abilities and made them stronger. Though as time went on you started to feel pain, am I right?" Asche nodded and Siegfried continued, "The mana increase may make you stronger, but it also wears you out much quicker, and if you go too far the strain can injure you. If you kept on going you would ultimately die from it, so you avoid going that far unless it's absolutely necessary."_

_ "Have you done it before Grandpa?" Asche asked. Siegfried nodded and replied, "Yes, and although I don't have a mana absorption ability like you do, I was able to store a large amount of mana within my body, and I had pushed myself to the edge a number of times using that ability back then."_

_ That's when Siegfried got up and patted Asche on the head saying, "I'm sure you're tired, so let's head back home for dinner, shall we?"_

_ Asche sheathed Schwert Gewehr on his back and Siegfried laughed, "Hahaha, it seems Schwert Gewehr's still a bit big for you. No matter, you'll be able to wield it properly when you grow older."_

_ "Of course Grandpa." Asche said with a huff. Siegfried continued to laugh as the two walked back home._

* * *

Present time

Asche remembered what Siegfried told him and pushed himself further to end the fight quickly. He poured more mana into Schwert Gewehr making it's edge glow stronger and more sharper. Even though it was sharper than before, it couldn't cut through the swords the statue was wielding.

That's when Asche decided to change tactics and aimed for the arms instead. The statue seemed to realize what Asche was trying to do, and was blocking every attempt Asche made to cut off the arms.

The strain was starting to affect Asche's arms and legs and he held back a wince when he blocked a slash made by the statue. He quickly jumped up and gave it a kick to the head making it stumble to the side, though Asche felt that the kick was more painful than it was supposed to be.

The statue seemed disoriented by Asche's kick and he took that chance to cut off the statue's left hand. The hand and the sword fell to the ground but the statue retaliated with an attempted swipe with it's remaining sword, but Asche managed to duck and roll out of the way just in time. He ignored the pain that was coursing through his body and thought, 'It's either now or never!'

Asche made a dash towards the statue and it prepared to defend itself. Asche made a lightning swipe which cut the sword cleanly in half. With the statue wide open, Asche raised Schwert Gewehr and sliced the statue cleanly in half. As he sliced right through the statue Asche thought he felt something snap from within the statue, but he brushed it off as if crumbled into pieces.

Watching the statue fall apart, the mana increase faded away, and Asche was treated to an instance of pain throughout his body. He cringed for a bit until most of the pain subsided, when he fell down to his knees in exhaustion. Asche was breathing deeply when he felt a rumbling from within the cathedral and thought, 'That felt like an explosion, must be something Tia dealt with.'

A moment later there was a flash of light from behind him and he heard Spiritia's voice shout, "Asche!" Asche didn't bother to look around, not like he had the energy to anyway, as Spiritia rushed over to Asche's side, seeing the pile of rubble that was in front of him. Spiritia knelt down and asked, "Are you alright?"

Asche looked at her and replied, "I'm fine Tia, just a bit banged up." Spiritia had a look of surprise and asked, "You used Overdrive, didn't you?"

"Wha-?! How did you know?" Asche asked, looking shocked. Spiritia looked into his eyes and said, "You still have that red glow in your eyes, and the only times I've seen that is when you use that ability."

A sigh came from Asche and he said, "Okay, so you got me. I got pushed into a corner and had to go all out, and now I can't move." That's when Spiritia took out a pearl and materialized the cross tank that was inside it. She gave it to him saying, "Here, drink this. We'll rest for a bit before we move on."

"Thanks Tia." Asche took the cross tank and drank the contents. He could feel the effects starting to work and fell back to sit down. He put Schwert Gewehr down on the ground beside him and Spiritia sat down on his other side. Then Asche remembered something and he asked, "So, I heard you scream earlier Tia, mind filling me in?"

Spiritia blushed at that but she replied, "I fought against, um, I guess you can call it the Cross Wall, and the cathedral had turned into a bottomless pit. I nearly fell over when I tried to avoid a shot."

"Ah, I see…" Asche said, "That pile over there used to be my opponent." He nodded his head at the pile of rubble, "I really don't want to go into details right now so all I can say is that used to be the two statues from the cathedral entrance."

An 'oh' escaped Spiritia's mouth as Asche laid back and looked at the moon thinking, 'If those were only the guards only worse things will be waiting for us inside the castle.'


	11. Bloody Glass Tears

Chapter 10 – Bloody Glass Tears

After beating their opponents and resting for a bit, Asche and Spiritia had reached the other end of the cathedral on the roof, and somehow gotten down to the ground. Now they were traveling down a hallway inside the castle, that had somehow been altered with more monsters and spike traps. Asche and Spiritia had just jumped over another spike trap with Asche saying, "I can't recognize this place anymore."

"Me neither, but we still need to keep on going." Spiritia said as she used Liebesstrum to clear out all the enemies up ahead. Eventually they reached the end of the hall and saw an open pit that led to the floor below. They instinctively jumped into the hole and they were in a room that led even deeper into the castle. They went up ahead and Asche noticed that there was blood on the walls. He pointed to it and said, "Ugh, I hope that's not what I think it is…"

Spiritia looked at it and said, "It's probably due to the dark magic in the castle. That blood's probably an illusion."

Asche took one last look at the wall and said, "I guess you're right." He gulped and thought, 'I've seen enough blood as it is.'

The two went across the room only to find another hole that led to the floor below. Asche took a look and said, "I think this leads to the castle's sewer system."

Spiritia gave him a look and asked, "Are you sure about that Asche? I mean, the ground floor is just above us, and I don't remember the castle's sewers being this close."

Asche gave Spiritia a dull look and said, "Tia, let's just blame whatever's happening to the castle on the dark magic that's coming from who knows where, alright?"

Spiritia was taken aback by Asche's abrupt response and Lilli came out and said, "Hey Asche, you could just be a little nicer, you know?!" Asche looked at the two and said softly, "I'm just irritated, alright? We went through things that would last us a week or two, and it's starting to take it's toll."

The two of them understood that, since they were feeling it too, though not as strongly as Asche is. Spiritia told him, "I understand, and I'm sorry for dragging you into this Asche."

"Huh?" Asche said, raising an eyebrow, "You didn't drag me into anything Tia, it was my choice to help you stop this uprising. Don't you forget that, alright?"

Spiritia smiled at him and said, "Thank you Asche. Now, let's get going!" With that she jumped down the hole, and Asche went after her shouting, "Hey Tia, wait up!"

The two landed in a puddle with a splash and Asche said, "Yup, this is the castle's sewer system alright." Asche and Spiritia got out of it with Lilli saying, "Eww, that's gross."

"Actually this place is kept in good condition, though…" Asche looked around and saw blood plastered over the walls and ground and he continued, "All this bloodiness is making me a bit sick."

Spiritia patted Asche on the back and said, "I know you can pull though, since you did go through Sleipnir without breaking down." Asche muttered to himself, "But I almost did Tia."

The two traveled through the castle sewers, and were surprised by the lack of monsters, only a ball bat or two. That's when they reached the edge of a huge body of water that they heard a dripping sound hitting the water. Spiritia asked, "Where is that coming from?"

Suddenly a drop hit Asche's hand and when he took a look, he was shocked to see blood on his hand. Reluctantly, he looked up and saw blood dripping from the ceiling and said, "Eugh, you really don't want to know Tia."

By the time Asche told her that she had already figured out where the drops were coming from. The water had turned red due to all the drops and Spiritia said, "Well, we might as well cross it, since going around it would take too much time." She shouted, "Zwei!" and the Silberflugel spell formed in front of them, wings and all.

Spiritia nudged to Asche and she jumped on saying, "C'mon Asche, get on." Asche jumped onto the board and it started moving forward. It didn't take long for it to reach the other side where Spiritia dismissed the spell when it was over solid ground, making the two of them land on their feet.

That's when Asche noticed something and he took a sniff at the air, making Lilli ask, "Uh, Asche? What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing Lilli." Asche replied. He thought, 'There's no smell, so the blood must be an illusion due to the dark magic affecting the castle.'

That's when they saw a ladder that led upwards and the two went up it, one after another. Then they reached the room above and both Asche and Spiritia nearly choked at the sight. The entire room was covered in blood with the ceiling and floor having the most of it, along with the spike trap that was underneath the stairs that led to another latter at the other end of the room. Asche closed his eyes and Spiritia and Lilli heard him whisper, "It's just an illusion. It's just an illusion."

Asche chanted that line a couple more times before he opened his eyes, took a breath and shook his head saying, "Okay, let's get going."

Spiritia nodded and the two quickly made their way up the stairs and onto the higher platform. That's when they heard a crumbling noise and saw that the stairs had started to disintegrate and was quickly reaching the platform. Asche quickly climbed up the ladder with Spiritia right behind him, just as the platform crumbled and the pieces fell into the spike trap. Asche sighed and said, "That was a close one."

The two climbed up the ladder and eventually reached the top. When both of them were on their feet Spiritia speculated, "I think we're on the fourth floor Asche."

"Really? I can't tell with all of these transformations all around us." Asche told her. The two walked forward a bit until they came across a very long spike trap that was as long as the corridor, as they can see. Asche said, "I guess it's time for the Silberflugel spell again. Do you have enough energy to get us across Tia?"

"Uh, I think so…" Spiritia said, looking a bit unsure of herself. She shook her head and shouted, "Zwei!" and materialized the Silberflugel spell again. The two jumped onto it and they started to move across the corridor. As they moved on Asche had another memory flashback, this time a memory that he wasn't so fond of…

* * *

_Flashback, a year ago_

_ Asche was by himself this time, walking within a dark forest. He received a mission from the Count to eliminate a renegade magus group that was threatening the Empire, and was suspected of using necromancy magic to carry out their deeds. He looked around the forest that RKS had suspected was of hiding the renegades' hideout. Asche sighed and gripped his grey coat thinking, 'Just typical that a hideout of theirs would be within a shady place like this.'_

_ Suddenly a zombie came out of the shadows and tried to attack Asche, but his reflexes kicked in and he drew Schwert Gewehr in a flash, slicing the zombie in half. After that Asche kept Schwert Gewehr in his hands just in case something else popped out at him. He thought, 'Well, at least I know I'm on the right track.'_

_ After a few minutes of walking, Asche noticed something off to the side of the path that looked like it had been beaten down a number of times. He took his chances and went off down the slightly beaten path, hoping that it led to the hideout of the renegades. As luck would have it, it did lead to the renegades' hideout, a run down small church that was in the middle of the clearing._

_ Asche had ducked behind a tree after seeing a couple of Skeleton Warriors pass by. Taking a look all he saw was four Skeleton Warriors going around the premises, looking like they were on patrol. That's when Asche took a chance and used his Overdrive technique and sliced up all four skeletons when they got together in an instant, without making too much noise._

_ The attack was successful and Asche carefully made his way up to one of the church's broken windows and took a peak in. From what he saw that there were at least ten people in robes and they were talking to each other. He heard one of them say, "Is the ritual almost complete?"_

_ "Yes sir, all we need to do is add the final component and we'll have the most powerful beast under our control. Not even RKS will be able to stand up to us. Destroying the Empire is going to become a reality for us."_

_ "Good." Asche heard footsteps and he lowered his head a bit. Then he heard a bang against metal, and to his surprise, heard a couple of squeaks that sounded like from scared girls. Then he heard a voice say, "Well, I guess it's your turn little girls. I wish we could have had some fun, but the ritual does require two virgins. How sad, I always wondered what a nun would feel like, hahaha…"_

_ Asche started to get angry at what the voice said and thought, 'They're going to sacrifice a couple of girls?! This is much more serious than I thought it would be…!' _

_ When he heard the voice say, "Take the girls to the ritual." Asche didn't wait anymore and he got up, ran back a bit, then he ran forward and jumped through the glass, into the church._

_ Asche's appearance startled everyone in the room and Asche took that chance to take a quick look around the interior. There were definitely ten robed men in the church, and he saw two young girls in nun robes huddled together in a cage, their robes a bit ragged. When Asche saw that one of them was holding her right eye in pain, his eyes narrowed as the robed man at the altar, who obviously looked like the leader, shouted, "Who the heck are you?!"_

_ Asche looked at the robed man in disgust and said, "The man who's going to send all of you to hell, that's what!"_

_ The robed man took a look at Asche and said, "Jet black hair, brown eyes, and a sword with a magical edge… You're Asche Klingeblatt of RKS, aren't you?!"_

_ "How perceptive of you!" Asche shouted. The robed man ordered, "Everyone, kill him!"_

_ The rest of the robed men summoned either a skeleton or a zombie and the monsters attacked, while the necromancers started to cast spells at Asche. He dodged all of them while slicing each skeleton and zombie apart. When all of the monsters were killed, some of the robed men started to get scared. Asche had subconsciously went into Overdrive mode and so, the anger in his eyes, along with the red glow surrounding his irises._

_ That's when Asche went wild and killed each of the robed men mercilessly. The leader watched horrified as Asche took apart each of his underlings which Schwert Gewehr, spraying their blood everywhere with each strike. Eventually Asche killed off the last of the underlings, which fell to the ground now that it was headless and started to make his way to the altar. _

_ When he saw the leader take out a knife and was about to go over to the two girls, Asche threw Schwert Gewehr very hard at the leader, which impaled him straight in the chest and sent him crashing into the wall. From the look of it the leader died instantly and Asche went over to retrieve Schwert Gewehr, pulling it out of the man's body and wiped as much blood off of it as he could._

_ Suddenly Asche heard a few sniffles and he turned around to the source, and saw the two girls utterly terrified at him. Realizing that he had just shown the two girls the horrifying scene of him slaughtering the necromancers, he sighed and went over to the cage to see what the necromancers did to them. _

_ Asche saw that the two were twins as they were trying to back away from him in the cage as Asche tried to calm them down saying, "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you."_

_ "I-I-I don't b-believe y-y-you-u…" One of the girls, the one without the eye injury, stuttered in fright. The one with the injury just buried her face into her sister's chest, apparently too scared to say anything. _

_ Asche took a look at the lock and saw that he couldn't just pick it open. So he raise Schwert Gewehr and the girls braced themselves for death, but all Asche did was cut away the lock and open the cage. The girls looked up and saw Asche put Schwert Gewehr down and he held out his hands saying, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, I promise."_

_ The girls looked at each other and were quite hesitant at first, until the uninjured girl held out her hand to Asche and he helped her out of the cage, with her sister following her. Asche asked, "What happened to her?"_

_ The girl without the injury replied, "One of those bad mages stabbed a knife at my sister's eye, and now she can't see." _

_ Asche whispered with a hint of anger, "How awful…" He opened his coat and reached for his inside pockets for a bottle and an eye bandage. The twins watched as Asche poured some of the liquid inside the bottle onto the bandage. Then he put away the bottle and Asche said softly, "Would you let me put this on?"_

_ The girl holding her eye was very reluctant until her sister urged her, "It's okay, I'm sure he's not a bad magi." The girl nodded and pulled her hand away from her eye. Asche nearly freaked out seeing the horrid injury, but kept his calm and applied the bandage to the girl's eye saying, "That should be able to heal whatever damage that's been done. I'm not sure if she'll get her eyesight back, but at least the injury will heal up." Asche sighed and the twins looked extremely grateful._

_ Asche picked up Schwert Gewehr and sheathed it, while he asked, "So you two, what are your names?"_

_ Before either girl could say anything, the back door opened with two robed necromancers coming out with one of them saying, "Hey what's taking so-! What the heck?! Who are you?!"_

_ Asche quickly drew Schwert Gewehr as the two necromancers summoned a Skeleton Warrior each. Asche went through the two monsters in a single swipe and dodge the spells that the two necromancers cast at him. Then suddenly, he dashed forward and killed both of them before they could cast another spell._

_ After making sure there weren't anymore robed necromancers, he turned around, but found that the girls were gone, with the main doors open. He thought, 'Those two must've ran out the moment those robed men came through the door. Oh well, if I can't find them after I'm done here then there's nothing I can do.'_

_ Asche went through the door down to the lower level and destroyed anything related to their so called 'ritual'. After coming back up and getting out of the church, Asche looked around for any signs of the two girls. Asche thought, 'I can't find those two. Oh well, I hope they're going to be alright. From what I could sense those two are magi, but…' _

_ Asche had subconsciously walked away from the church while he was in thought, unaware that the twins were watching him walk away mouthing, "Thank you very much mister."_

* * *

Present time

Suddenly Spiritia shouted to Asche's face, "Asche jump!"

"Say what?!" Asche shouted, snapping back to reality. The spell had reached the other end of the corridor and both of them had jumped to a ladder just before the spell had disintegrated when it hit the wall. Asche shouted, "What the heck?!"

That's when Spiritia asked, "Were you daydreaming Asche?" Asche replied, "Maybe…"

Spiritia shook her head as Asche climbed up, with Spiritia behind him. They reached another ladder and they climbed down, reaching what Spiritia speculated was the third level. They walked across the room below and jumped down, with Spiritia going first.

The two landed on a small platform that was situated above a spike trap and Asche commented, "Jeez, it's like this castle's trying to kill us."

"Maybe it is…" Spiritia said in a mysterious voice. Asche looked at her a bit funny but shook it off. They saw a hole in the middle of the room and the two looked at each other before they jumped through it together.

They landed in an area that had stained glass windows on one side of the wall. Asche and Spiritia looked around with her saying, "No one's here…"

"No kidding Tia." Asche said sarcastically. As Asche took a closer look at their surroundings he noticed the dried blood on the floor, while Lilli was admiring the stain glass windows and said, "Wow, how pretty…"

"Yes it is, but still…" Spiritia said, still unsure of the situation. That's when Asche recognized the place and said, "Now I remember, this is the end of the main hallway inside the castle, though for some reason I don't remember ever being a stained glass window here though…"

"What was that Asche?" Spiritia asked him. Suddenly the stained glass started to shake and Lilli shouted, "Ah, watch out you two!"

"Say what?!" Asche shouted, drawing Schwert Gewehr and looking around. Suddenly a few pieces of glass came out from the windows and started to cluster together. Both Asche and Spiritia prepared to defend themselves when the glass cluster fired a few shards at Spiritia. She couldn't get out of the way fast enough and she braced herself, when Asche went in front of her and deflected all the shards. He said to her, "Tia, you fire at the cluster while I block the shards!"

"Right!" Spiritia said. Together the two worked together until the cluster fell apart from Spiritia's shots. That wasn't the end of it as another cluster had formed after more shards had splintered from the windows. This time the cluster tried to separate them by diving right in between them, but they manage to stay together and this time Asche created a blast from Schwert Gewehr, which blew away the glass cluster.

That didn't stop from even more from coming, this time all the glass from the windows shattered, creating two glass clusters. Each one went after Asche and Spiritia and Asche changed Schwert Gewehr and started firing Lustatem shots, since he figured fighting those things at close range wasn't a good idea. Eventually, after dodging shard shots from the two clusters, Asche and Spiritia's shots managed to make them scatter and break up. Spiritia looked at Asche and asked, "Do you think that's all of them?"

All of a sudden, the entire wall that had the stained glass shattered, it revealing that the entire wall was made out of glass. Seeing the shards cluster together into a big glass cluster, Asche replied, "You just had to ask that, didn't you Tia?"

"Uh, te-he?" Spiritia said cutely as the giant glass cluster suddenly went after Asche, which forced him to dodge as he transformed Schwert Gewehr back into a sword. He shouted, "Tia, you better start shooting at this thing!" Right after he said that he had to deflect a number of shards that were being shot at him.

Spiritia started firing charged Seelegewehr shots at the glass cluster, but after two shots, it changed targets and started to go after Spiritia. Asche took that chance to charge his blade and went after it. When he was close enough, Asche released the energy in a blast which took off some of the glass shards, but the cluster was still there. Asche had to jump out of the way of a few shards aimed at him as he thought, 'Damn, this thing's tough.'

Meanwhile Spiritia was still firing charged shots at the cluster, which was starting to take it's toll on it, as shard after shard fell from the cluster after every hit. However Spiritia was starting to feel tired and she shouted, "Asche, I can't keep this up for much longer!"

Then the cluster turned it's attention to Asche by firing a number of shards at him. He dodged them and to his shock, saw that all the shards that missed him went back to the cluster, like a boomerang. He decided to change tactics and started deflecting the shards shot at him. Each one was destroyed upon impact with Schwert Gewehr but one got past him and skinned his arm. He winced and managed to jump out of the way and switched to gun form, firing Lustatem shots.

Spiritia did the same and even though both of them were pounding shot after shot on it, the cluster didn't seem to weaken. When Asche rolled over to Spiritia's side she asked him, "What do we do Asche?! We're going to end up dead if this keeps up!"

"Hmm…how about we try a double charged Lustatem shot? If it's powerful enough, it might split the cluster in half, and even if it doesn't, it'll cripple it for sure." Asche told her. Spiritia nodded when the cluster decided to go for ramming tactics, forcing the two to separate. As she watched Lilli wondered, 'I wonder how they're going to pull it off…'

The cluster seemed intent on attacking Asche, and Asche started pouring mana into his gun as Spiritia started to gather mana in her hands. Asche kept the cluster occupied by dodging all of it's attempted rams.

A moment later Asche ended up back beside Spiritia as Asche held up Schwert Gewehr and Spiritia held up her hand. The both of them aimed at the cluster and the two shouted, "Lustatem!"

Two giant energy waves came out and to Asche and Spiritia's surprise, the two spells combined together and they flew towards the cluster. The spell flew straight through the cluster and it the wall behind it, causing a small explosion. However the cluster just floated there for a second before it imploded itself and then exploded, causing all the shards to fly in all directions.

Asche went over and covered Spiritia from the raining glass. Luckily, the shards had disintegrated into tiny glass pebbles when it imploded, so the glass didn't cause any injuries. When all the glass fell to the floor Asche got off of Spiritia with her saying, "Thanks Asche."

"It's no problem Tia." Asche said. He was busy dusting off whatever glass was on him to not notice that Spiritia had a pink blush on her face. That's when Lilli came out and asked, "Why's you're face red Tia?"

Spiritia got all flustered and said, "It's none of you're business Lilli." Asche had finished dusting himself off and he asked, "Did you say something Tia?"

"Eh? Oh no, it's nothing Asche. It's just something between me and Lilli." Spiritia replied. Asche just sighed and said, "Well, if you say so…" He looked at the statue that had blood tears pouring into the dish that it was holding and said, "Yup, now I remember, it's a statue that was at the end of the hallway, minus the blood of course."

Asche shook his head when the two felt a wave of dark magic pulse through the castle. Asche asked, "What the…? Did the Count do something?"

"That felt like it came from the second tower Asche!" Spiritia said. Asche said, "Well, then we'd better find our way to the main tower and check it out." Asche led the way out of the hall with Spiritia behind him, the two having a bad feeling about the pulse of dark magic.


	12. Raimund Seyfarth

Chapter 11 – Raimund Seyfarth

After defeating the possessed stained glass that was at the end of the main hallway, Spiritia and Asche made their way to the main tower that was connected to the secondary one. For some reason the other paths to the main tower mysteriously vanished, which made Asche say, "It's probably due to the dark magic warping the castle in some way."

Now they had reached the mid level of the tower only to find a horrid sight. For some reason the undead was starting to infest the tower as they saw Skeleton Warriors and zombies prowled the corridors. The worst of it was at the entrance of the stairway, as that was the place where the zombies were popping out from. To their surprise, they saw a cross tank on top of a nearby stand beside the door. Spiritia asked, "So what's the plan Asche?"

"What makes you think I have a plan Tia?" Asche asked. Spiritia answered with her own question, "Don't you always have a plan?"

A laugh came from Asche as he said, "You must be thinking of someone else, 'cause I usually just jump into the fray like this!" Asche just dashed forward and was slicing zombies and Skeleton Warriors apart. Spiritia sighed and Lilli asked, "Are you sure you were talking about Asche, Tia?"

"Apparently, since charging into the fray is usually Asche's first plan, unless he's up against an extremely tough opponent." Spiritia told her with a smile as she ran after Asche, shooting down zombies that got past Asche. Lilli shook her head and said, "I just don't understand these two sometimes."

They managed to reach the end of the hallway, mostly due to Asche hacking away at all of the undead that were in their path, until they reached the door that the two Skeleton Warriors were apparently guarding. Asche decapitated them both in one slash before either one could react. Spiritia had grabbed the cross tank and stored it away before she ran though the door, while Asche had sliced a zombie in half that came up from behind him. Spiritia shouted, "Get in Asche, so I can lock the door!"

Asche sliced another zombie in half before he dove through the door and Spiritia closed it with a slam. She threw the block of wood over it, locking it into place, and they could hear zombies pounding at the door. Asche got up and said, "Ugh, one thing I hate about zombies, is that they don't know when to stay down!"

Spiritia giggled at that while Lilli asked, "But where are those undead things coming from?" Asche thought about it before he replied, "It's probably from the cemetery near the castle. It's the one where I fought Grolla, remember? Though I don't understand how they could've made it into the castle itself though…"

"Eww…that's just nasty." Lilli whined. Asche agreed saying, "Yeah, and the only way to stop this is to confront the Count, or find the source of the dark magic. Jeez, this is starting to look like a necromancer's work."

Asche started climbing the stairs and Spiritia shouted, "Hey, wait up!" Both of them started climbing the stairs, and they didn't run into much resistance, only a few Skeleton Warriors every few levels. However when they reached the floor that led to the bridge outside, the two of them found a Gargoyle Statue waiting for them, blocking the exit.

The statue started firing fireballs and both Asche and Spiritia jumped out of the way shouting, "Man, I am getting sick of seeing these things!"

Spiritia used Geisterwand to block the fireballs and she shouted to Asche, "Hurry, while I have it's attention!"

Asche quickly got up and tuned Schwert Gewehr to full blast. He dashed forward and gave the gargoyle statue a slash that he put all his effort in. The sword cut right through the gargoyle, and a second later, had split into two slabs which crumbled afterwards. Spiritia had released Geisterwand when the gargoyle had fallen, while Asche was catching his breath after that last strike.

After a quick recovery Asche and Spiritia looked out of the door, and sighed seeing that the bridge connecting the main tower to the second one was in pieces. Some parts were higher while other parts were lower, though it didn't help that there were gaps in between them. Asche said, "Ha, figures that this wouldn't be easy."

"Was it ever easy?" Spiritia asked him. Asche looked at her and gave a laugh saying, "No, I guess not." The two went outside and they scoped out the now broken bridge with them timing their jumps. Asche sliced a Living Cross that swooped down at him in half and said, "Make sure you don't trip and fall Tia!"

"Like you're one to talk Asche!" Spiritia shouted back. She fired on a Living Cross that went after her, while Asche gulped at that, reminding him that they were really high up. The broken bridge didn't help either as some parts gave him a clear view of the height. He didn't have time to think about it though, as more monsters came after them.

Asche and Spiritia worked their way across the broken bridge and eventually, they reached the halfway point. There they saw no signs of the monsters around, and to their surprise, the bridge seemed pretty stable all the way to the second tower. Asche looked at it and pointed asking, "Does this part of the bridge look safe to you Tia?"

Spiritia looked where Asche was pointing and replied, "It does, but from what we've encountered so far, it's probably not. We'll have to cross it anyway, since I don't thinking backtracking is an option right now."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Asche said, looking back and remembering that there's a hoard of zombies back at the base of the main tower. With one last look at the bridge Asche said, "Well, are you ready?"

Spiritia looked at him and said, "I was born ready Asche."

Asche couldn't help but laugh and said, "You're catching on Tia. Let's go." The two of them started walking across the bridge and Asche said, "Well, nothing weird so far…"

Suddenly they heard a strange noise and Spiritia turned around, only to find that the bridge was crumbling behind them. Asche turned to the noise and when he saw the bridge start to crumble he shouted, "We'd better run for it!"

Spiritia had no problems with that and the two of them started running across the bridge. Asche changed Schwert Gewehr and pointed it forward as he ran. Whenever he found a monster that was in the way, he quickly destroyed it using Freudenstachel. Spiritia copied what Asche was doing to maximize the effect as they ran for their lives.

The bridge started to crumble faster and the two of them ran with all of their might. It didn't help that there were holes in the bridge, causing the two of them to jump over them in a huff. A moment later they saw the open door that was the entrance to the second tower up ahead. Asche and Spiritia picked up the pace and when they were close enough, they dove through the door, jumping over the last hole in the process.

Suddenly the door closed by itself, but Asche and Spiritia didn't care, since they just avoided death a moment ago. The two of them were breathing heavily and even Spiritia fell back in exhaustion. Lilli was silent, and Asche, who was kneeling in exhaustion as well, saw that she was slightly shivering. He asked her, "Hey what's wrong Lilli? Don't tell me our death run shook you up that badly?"

Lilli shook her head saying, "No, it's not that. It's just that I have a really bad feeling about something. It's coming from beyond that door…" Lilli pointed to the door at the end of the small hallway that led to the interior of the second tower.

Asche just sighed and said, "It doesn't matter what's there, we'll have to go through it in order to stop this rebellion, right Tia?"

Spiritia took a deep breath and picked herself up before replying, "Yes Asche, you're absolutely right." She looked at the door and that strange feeling she had when they started climbing the tower came back a bit. Spiritia steeled herself and asked, "Are you ready Asche?"

Schwert Gewehr somehow returned to Asche's sheath as he got up and replied, "Yeah…well let's just get this over with then. Whatever's beyond that door, together we can handle it." Spiritia nodded and the two, along with Lilli, walked up to the door and opened it.

When they walked through the door, the door closed and sealed itself, but their attention was focused on the huge red scythe that was stuck in the tower's floor. They also saw that the tower was actually the lookout point of the castle, so the room was only supported by tall pillars holding the roof up. Lilli looked at it and said with surprise, "Hunya! That's a huge scythe!"

However, Asche and Spiritia felt differently as Spiritia said, "Asche, this blade…is it…?" Asche replied grimly, "It looks like it Tia…"

Lilli looked at the two of them a bit confused, and asked, "Tia, Asche, the two of you recognize it?"

The two nodded and Spiritia explained, "The wielder of the Demon Sword, Grollschwert, and the Devil Scythe, Grassense: Sir Raimund Seyfarth. There isn't a man alive who doesn't know his name. But I heard the scythe just disappeared when he passed away…" Asche was silent, trying to figure out where the scythe had come from.

Lilli took note of the name and said, "Wait…Seyfarth…?"

Spiritia nodded and told her, "Yeah, Grolla's grandfather and mentor. Asche and I knew him well. Though Asche knew him better than I did though."

Suddenly a booming voice addressed them, "I HAVE BEEN WAITING SPIRITIA, YOU TOO ASCHE."

Both Asche and Spiritia jumped at the voice as Asche drew Schwert Gewehr in a flash, while Lilli freaked out and asked, "W-who's that?!"

"I recognize that voice…you're Sir Raimund, aren't you?" Asche shouted out. The voice replied, "THAT WAS THE NAME I CARRIED WHEN I WALKED AMONG MORTALS, BUT THAT LABEL CARRIES NO MEANING FOR ME NOW."

Lilli continued to freak out as she said, "You're kidding right? He's a ghost?!" Asche's eyes narrowed as he gripped Schwert Gewehr tightly, staring at the scythe. Spiritia shook her head and said, "I can't believe it…! The Count is even using the forbidden arts?!" Asche said, "I guess we now know why dark magic's been seeping all over the castle."

Lilli wasn't getting any better as she squeaked, "This is freaky!" Meanwhile Spiritia was trying to reason with the voice saying, "Sir Raimund, what the Count is doing is wrong!"

Asche couldn't help but shake his head while the voice replied, "I CARE NOT FOR THE MATTERS OF MORTALS, NOR THE MOTIVES OF MY SUMMONER. I CRAVE ONLY FOR ONE THING ALONE: BATTLE!"

Spiritia couldn't believe it and whispered, "No way…" Asche meanwhile, stepped up a bit and held Schwert Gewehr in a battle stance, pointing the sword at the scythe shouting, "If it's a battle you want Sir Raimund, then I, Asche Klingeblatt, will fight you here and now! In Master Siegfried's name, I will defeat you!"

The voice sounded a bit amused and said, "HMM, VERY WELL, IF YOU DESIRE TO DIE THAT BADLY ASCHE, THEN SO BE IT." Grassense lifted itself from off the ground and started spinning slowly, blade first. Asche prepared to defend while Spiritia shouted, "Asche!"

"Don't worry Tia, I'll be fine!" Asche assured her, but he didn't have time to say anything else since Grassense spun at him, forcing Asche to stop it with Schwert Gewehr, which caused sparks to fly.

Asche pushed it back as Spiritia ran for cover. She knew that she wouldn't be able to help Asche in any way; she even wondered how on earth Asche was going to stop Grassense. On the other end, Asche didn't seem worried as all he did was clash Schwert Gewehr against Grassense. He thought, 'If I beat this scythe hard enough, it might draw out Sir Raimund, since I can see that the shadow in the distance is the form that the Count summoned him as.'

Earlier, before Asche was hit by Grassense, he saw a shadow appear in the distance, right in front of the fake moon. He knew that it was really Raimund controlling Grassense from a distance, and he saw the glint of a sword in it's hand. Asche blocked every attempt the scythe made to decapitate him in any way, and that's when mini scythes started to appear on the battlefield. They flung themselves to him and he managed to dodge them, while stopping Grassense from slicing his head off.

Asche pushed the scythe off of him with more force than usual, sending the scythe flying backwards a bit. Grassense stopped itself before it hit a pillar and floated there for a second. Then it went into another spin and launched itself towards Asche. Asche retaliated by slamming Schwert Gewehr down upon Grassense, causing more sparks to fly. That's when Asche started top push the scythe back and with a sudden mana burst, he sent it flying into a pillar.

Unfortunately, the moment Asche flung Grassense into the pillar, a mini scythe had appeared and was aimed for his head. Asche dodged it so that it wouldn't split his head in half, but it got him in the left shoulder. Spiritia winced while Asche stifled a grunt of pain, not taking his eyes off of Grassense.

The scythe managed to get itself out of the pillar and just floated there for a second. All of a sudden, it flew outside, and the next thing they knew, the entire top part of the tower had suddenly vanished, leaving only the pillars. Suddenly Asche saw a shadow grow beneath him and he quickly jumped out of the way, just as the undead Raimund landed where Asche was just standing, holding both is Grassense and Grollschwert.

Asche raised an eyebrow, seeing Grollschwert in Raimund's possession and asked, "That sword isn't real, is it? The real one's with Grolla…"

"THESE WEAPONS MAY ONLY BE A COPY CREATED BY MAGIC, BUT THEY ARE JUST AS STRONG!" Raimund shouted, and to prove it, he sent a slash from Grollschwert to Asche, which he recognized as the technique that Grolla uses.

Asche prepared himself for a hard battle when he saw Spiritia run up beside him. He said, "What are you doing here Tia?!"

Spiritia looked at him with a hard look that Asche had never seen before and replied in a strong voice, "I'm not going to let you fight alone Asche." Then she turned to Raimund and shouted, "I won't back down Sir Raimund!"

Raimund said, "SUCH RESOLVE…FINE THEN, SHOW ME YOUR POWER SPIRITIA!" That's when Grollschwert disappeared and Grassense spun in Raimund's hand. Asche and Spiritia felt the sudden increase in power, that they were being dragged slowly towards him. That's when Asche felt danger from above and saw that Grollschwert was going to drop upon them. Asche shouted, "Tia MOVE!"

The two of them jumped backwards, just in time as Grollschwert had landed right where the two of them were standing, creating a small crater where it landed. Raimund recalled it to his hand just as Spiritia fired off a charged shot at Raimund. It hit the reaper in the arm full on, but Raimund retaliated with a slash from Grollschwert aimed at Spiritia.

As Spiritia managed to dodge it Asche went in for another slash, but Grollschwert had vanished from Raimund's hand and was spinning Grassense in front of him, which blocked Schwert Gewehr. It sent him flying back a bit and he had only a second to move out of the way before Grollschwert landed right where he was. Asche had managed to get out of the way but the shockwave caused by Grollschwert sent him rolling.

Meanwhile Spiritia was shooting at Raimund and the reaper used Grassense to send a shockwave flying towards Spiritia, which hit her head on and sent her crashing into one of the pillars. She coughed upon impact and Lilli shouted, "Tia!"

Asche heard it and he got up, and ran towards Raimund, subconsciously going into Overdrive as he hit Raimund hard with Schwert Gewehr. Even as Raimund had blocked it with Grollschwert, he felt that he was being pushed back slowly. The reaper stood his ground and eventually pushed Asche off of him with Grassense.

As Asche reoriented himself, Spiritia managed to pick herself up and walk up to Asche, standing beside him. He looked at her and asked, "Still ready to go Tia?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Spiritia said as they dodged a slash that Raimund had sent at them. Asche thought, 'Uh oh, I think she's starting to pick up on my sarcasm.' That's when they saw that Raimund now had Grassense in one hand and Grollschwert in the other. Asche saw that he held them in a stance that he recognized from watching Raimund and Siegfried spar back when the two were alive.

Asche couldn't help but feel impressed at how Raimund was handling each weapon with one hand easily. Handling weapons like a scythe and sword at the same time took talent, Asche admitted. As much as he was a veteran when it came to fighting, he still had a lot to learn. He focused when he saw Grollschwert being swung at him and he blocked it, while seeing Grassense being swung at Spiritia and she dodged it, shooting a charged shot straight at Raimund's chest.

This caused the reaper to stagger back a bit and Asche took that chance to try and take Raimund's head. Asche missed due to Raimund pulling his head back at the last second, but the sword managed to scratch the skull, showing a cut on the cheekbone.

That's when they say that the reaper had been pushed back a bit and was near the edge. They also saw a number of destroyed pillars, which they just noticed, and thought how destructive Raimund's powers were. Asche knew that his grandfather Siegfried was on a similar level and knew that taking an opponent of this caliber lightly meant certain death.

Both sides looked roughed up a bit and Asche only started feeling the small twinges of pain, and knew that he was currently in Overdrive. Spiritia still had the fire within her eyes and Asche went forward and started to attack Raimund with a number of strikes that forced the reaper on the defensive.

Spiritia was busy trying to aim a shot at Raimund but with Asche moving a lot, she couldn't get a clear shot. She closed her eyes and thought, 'I hope Asche can dodge this…' Spiritia put her faith in her ability and fired off a charged Seelegewehr shot at the two combatants.

Just as Asche finished swinging another swipe at Raimund, he instinctively stepped to the left and as Raimund turned, the shot that Spiritia fired hit Raimund right in the shoulder. This caused him to drop Grollschwert and Asche kicked him to the edge of the tower. Asche couldn't help but think at that moment, 'Either Spiritia had faith in me to move out of the way, or she's angry about something. I'll gamble on the first option.'

Raimund had been pushed right at the edge and the reaper managed to reorient himself. Unfortunately, he didn't have the chance to retaliate as Asche had swung Schwert Gewehr like an uppercut and had knocked Grassense up into the air. Raimund had tried to summon Grollschwert back to his hand, but Asche had spun around and had stabbed Raimund straight through the chest.

Time seemed to stop for a second before they heard something snap and Raimund said, "SPIRITIA…ASCHE…THE TWO OF YOU HAVE GROWN STRONG…" That's all he said before Grassense came flying back down and promptly sliced Raimund's head off. The head and scythe both fell over the tower as the body started to disintegrate until nothing was left.

Suddenly Spiritia clapped her hands together, closed her eyes and said, "…Please, rest in peace once more…" Lilli looked at her worryingly and all she could say was, "Tia…"

"I'm alright Lilli. Asche, we need to move. It's time that we end this." Spiritia said. Asche nodded as his Overdrive faded, bracing for the pain that came afterwards. To his surprise, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be and thought, 'Probably because I activated it already.' He saw Raimund's Grollschwert on the ground and picked it up. That's when he heard a voice in his head say, 'Take me to my original.'

Asche just nodded and took out a pearl, and a second later, Raimund's Grollschwert was within the pearl. Spiritia asked, "What are you doing Asche?"

"Just taking the blade with us. We'll need to tell Grolla about this you know." Asche told her as he pocketed it. Spiritia understood and said, "Your right…I'm sure Grolla won't like hearing about this…"

A hollow laugh came from Asche and he said, "We'll be lucky that if all she does is just get angry." He knew Grolla's temper and determination, and it made him wonder how determined she was to beat him in a spar.

That's when he heard Spiritia say, "I still can't believe the Count is using the forbidden arts…" Asche sighed and said, "Really Tia, it's not that's surprising." Spiritia turned to him and asked, "How can you say that?"

"It's quite obvious, though not a first. The first sign was the monsters. Sure they might've snuck in somehow but us being attacked at the cathedral by those monsters wasn't normal. The second sign was the changes to the inside of the castle. I don't think I need to explain that, and the third sign was the undead running around the main tower, something that definitely shouldn't be here." Asche sighed after that long explanation and said, "At least now we know where all the dark magic is coming from." At that he pointed to the castle's chapel tower and throne room, which they could see from where they were, "The Count's probably there. I'll let you try and convince him first, but if he resists to the bitter end I'll kill him, if that's what it takes to end this stupid uprising…"

"But Asche-!" Spiritia shouted, and Asche knew she was going to argue so he walked over and put a finger over her mouth and said, "Didn't you hear me? I said if he resists to the bitter end, so if he surrenders himself, it won't come to that."

Spiritia sighed a breath of relief while Asche shook his head and thought, 'Jeez this girl…Her naïveté may be one of her strong suits in certain situations, but she really needs to start looking at reality. Ha, I guess she still a kid somewhere in there.' Asche took a look at Spiritia and thought, 'Though that only applies to her heart and such, that's for sure…'

Asche started to dust himself off and took out a pearl which had a couple of bottles within it. He materialized the two and gave one to Spiritia saying, "Here, this'll help rejuvenate you. I grabbed a couple before we left Haven, so those two are the only ones I have."

"Thanks…" Spiritia took the bottle and drank the contents. That's when she asked, "If you had these on you, why didn't you drink one back at the cathedral?"

"I didn't think about it at the time, and we need to be in full shape if we're going to confront Count Michael Zeppelin. He may not look like it, but he's one heck of a magus." Asche admitted as he drained the rest of his bottle.

Asche and Spiritia looked around and Asche said, "Oh well, at least he went out fighting, like he wanted…"

"Really…?" Spiritia asked. Asche nodded saying, "I remember hearing him and Grandpa taking once, and he said, 'Just sitting here waiting to die is not my style. If I'm going to die then it's better to be on the battlefield.' I think he's the type that finds the thrill of battle exciting."

That's when Spiritia asked him, "Do you find battles exciting Asche?"

There was a pause for a moment, until Asche replied, "…I don't know."

The two of them were silent for a moment and all Lilli could do was watch the two as they looked out at the false moon. They looked at it for a minute before they started to descend the tower.


	13. Count Michael Zeppelin

Chapter 12 – Count Michael Zeppelin

The defeat of the reaper that used to be called Raimund Seyfarth had left a bad aftertaste to both Asche and Spiritia. However, this confirmed that Michael Zeppelin was indeed using dark magic for the rebellion, and it made them wonder what drove him to such lengths in the first place, since necromancy wasn't something to be used lightly.

The two walked down the tower, only to find that it had somehow changed again under the dark magic's influence. Now there were only pitfalls and when Asche took a closer look, there were spikes lining the walls. Lilli saw it too and asked, "Dark magic?"

"Pretty much." Asche replied dully. Then he asked, "So, who's going first?"

Spiritia looked at him and said, "Uh, how about you first?" Asche looked at her with one eye and said, "Isn't it supposed to be ladies first?"

"Uh, I'm starting to feel generous, that's all." Spiritia said nervously. Asche muttered, "And I though I was the one with height issues. But after seeing all those spikes, I don't really blame her."

Asche gulped and sucked it up saying, "Alright, we'll both go." Spiritia looked at him asking, "But how-?" Again she was interrupted when Asche picked her off her feet (again) and held her bridal style. Asche couldn't help but say, "We seem to be doing this lately." Lilli nodded and as she went back to Spiritia's cross she said, "But I think Tia likes it."

"Really now…" Asche said with wonder, while Spiritia turned pink and retorted, "I do not! Asche put me down!"

"Sorry Tia, but if I die, I don't plan on dying alone." Asche said as he jumped. All Spiritia could say before Asche took the plunge was, "Say what?!"

They fell quite a bit, but thanks to Asche reinforcing his legs with mana, and not hitting any of the spikes on the way down, they reached a room at the bottom. Spiritia wondered if they were still alive and Asche asked, "Earth to Tia, you still there, or do I have to do something to wake you up?"

Spiritia replied, "Uh, yes I am." When Asche put her down she said, "Why don't you warn me when you do something like that?!"

"Oh, I thought that a member of RKS would be able to handle any situation." Asche teased. Spiritia pouted and decided to change the subject saying, "Look, there are two doors. Which one do we go through?"

"Hmm, let's see here, why don't you take the left while I'll take the right?" Asche suggested. Spiritia looked at him and asked, "Are you sure that's okay?" A nod came from Asche as he said, "I have a feeling that both paths lead to the chapel tower…"

From Spiritia's view, Asche didn't sound sure of himself for a moment there, but she just nodded and said, "Fine Asche, I'll trust you on this one." Then she walked over to the door to the left and went through it, with Asche saying, "Wait, does that mean you've been doubting me all this time?" Asche's response was the door slamming shut, with him being left alone in the room.

On the other side of the door Lilli asked, "Was that alright Tia?" She didn't get a response, and didn't see Spiritia smile a bit and stick out her tongue for a second. Then Spiritia said, "Never mind that Lilli, let's just keep going."

Back in the room Asche just shook his head and thought, 'That girl must be playing with me somehow.' Asche just sighed and went through the right door, finding himself in a hallway that led downwards. A number of Eggmets tried to attack him but Asche took care of them with a few swipes from Schwert Gewehr.

Asche climbed down the ladder to the lower level and thought, 'Strange, I don't remember there being this many ladders in the castle.' Asche shrugged it off as he sliced a Poison Snake Generator in half before it could spit out any snakes. He kept on climbing lower when he found that the hallway below had spike traps from one end of the hall to the other. He looked at the situation and thought, 'How the heck am I suppose to cross that?! It's not like I can just fly across…'

That's when he noticed a hover board nearby and said, "Wow, never thought I'd see one of those here. I thought the Count got rid of them all." Asche thanked his luck and went over to pick up the hover board. It activated at his touch and he got on, and the board started to travel across the hallway. It didn't take him long, and the only monsters that were in the way were Ball Bats and Living Crosses, taken care of courtesy of Freudenstachel.

When Asche reached the other end of the hallway he jumped off, just as the board ran straight into the wall, causing the board to shatter. Asche thought, 'Oh, too bad, that thing was quite useful. Well, I better get moving." Asche went though the door and down the nearby stairs.

After traveling through the castle for a bit, Asche ended up in a large hallway that he recognized. This hallway led straight to the chapel part of the castle. He looked around and thought, 'Tia's not here…Did the path she take lead to a dead end?'

That's when he heard a faint scream and looked around, trying to find where it was coming from. The scream grew stronger and Asche realized that it was coming from above him, but before he could look something suddenly fell right on top of him, making him collapse.

That something was Spiritia, and she was a bit disoriented after landing on top of Asche. She shook it off as Lilli came after, floating her way down with Spiritia shouting, "That was mean Lilli!"

"Well, it's not my fault that you're such a klutz Tia. Oh and you should really look at what you landed on." Lilli said, pointing to Asche. Spiritia looked and saw Asche underneath him groaning. She quickly got off of him saying, "Ah, Asche, are you alright?!"

"Ugh, what the heck hit me…?" Asche slowly got up and saw both Spiritia and Lilli beside him. He asked, "What…? Where did the two of you come from?"

"Tia landed on you Asche." Lilli simply stated. Spiritia turned red with embarrassment, while Asche rubbed his neck and said, "Ow…did I do something to you Tia? 'Cause whatever it is I'm sorry~!"

Spiritia shook her head and told him, "It's not you Asche. Lilli pushed me, causing me to fall over." Lilli corrected her saying, "It's more like Spiritia tripping over something…"

"Ah, now that makes a lot of sense." Asche said. He and Lilli laughed while Spiritia just stood there pouting. After the laughter died Asche said, "Well, let's go and confront the Count, since the chapel is up ahead."

Spiritia nodded and Asche went ahead, with her following. It wasn't hard crossing the hallway, though the pits in the floor, coupled with the monsters roaming around, annoyed them a lot. Eventually they reached the staircase that spiraled upwards and came up to the door that led to the inside of the chapel. The two looked at each other, full of determination, and they entered the chapel.

The two walked through the room up to the altar, where Michael was standing. As they approached Asche saw the Count's new look and thought, 'Woah, talk about a makeover.' Meanwhile Spiritia called out, "Count!"

Michael turned around and the two saw how much he had changed. Michael saw Asche and Spiritia saying in a slow voice, "…Spiritia, Asche."

Asche took note of how odd Michael's voice sounded as Spiritia demanded, "Answer me! Why are you doing all of this?!"

Michael scoffed at her saying, "Hmph. You know nothing Spiritia. You are oblivious to the truth behind the Empire, are you not?" Spiritia looked confused as she whispered, "The truth behind the Empire…?"

"He's talking about how the Church actually runs the Empire." Asche told her. Michael nodded and said, "It's as Asche says. And the Church seeks my daughter's life… To protect Iris, what other choice did I have but to fight…?"

Both Asche and Spiritia were confused at that statement while Lilli asked, "What are you talking about?" That's when Michael told them the history of RKS, how the powerful Rosenkreuz was and how he had used himself as a bargaining chip to save the other magi, by serving the Empire. Michael finished with, "That is what we are today: RKS, the 'Blades of the Rose Cross'. And since then, I too have been a servant of the Empire."

Asche already knew all of this and was wondering where Michael was going on about when Michael said, "Despite that, the Church had bared it's fangs at us once more. Fate is a cruel mistress, is it not, Spiritia, Asche?"

That's when Spiritia asked, "What about Iris?" Michael went on to say, "Fate is indeed cruel. My precious Iris… She was born with every ounce of power that Rosenkreuz accumulated throughout his life." Spiritia and Lilli were shocked by that revelation while Asche just narrowed his eyes. Then Lilli asked, "In other words, she's the reincarnation of Rosenkreuz?"

"That she is. You have seen it yourself Spiritia: the rapid development of her abilities." Michael addressed Spiritia. She couldn't say anything as Michael went on, "I am grateful that she was also blessed with intelligence." This part made Asche wonder, 'If Iris has Rosenkreuz's intelligence, then why does she…?'

"She quickly learned to control her powers. Thanks to that, I was able to conceal her talents, lest the Church learned of them. However I was careless, I had never considered that there was as spy within our midst." Michael lamented.

This part completely shocked the two and Spiritia stuttered, "A spy…in RKS?" Asche argued, "That's impossible, no one in RKS would sell themselves out to the Church."

"I wish that were true Asche." Michael told him, "I was constantly vigilant. I shared her secret with only a select few that I could trust, with one of those people being you Asche."

Spiritia turned to him and said, "You knew Asche?!" Asche replied, "Yes, I did." Then he thought, 'Though it kind of slipped my mind awhile back.' Then Michael said, "Such naïveté on my part…I could have never guessed that Karl was a traitor…"

Asche and Spiritia's shock increased as she said, "Huh? Karl?!" Lilli asked, "Karl? You mean Liebea's brother? Wasn't he captured by the Empire…?"

Michael sighed and told them, "It seemed the Church learned of Iris and her gifts through Karl, but I was able to pre-empt their plans. In order to protect Iris, I launched a coup against the Empire. With our current strength, there weren't any other options. With a mere moment of preparation, I organized our attack."

"…So that's why…" Spiritia whispered to herself. Asche knew that she was talking about the strike on the Training Hall. Then Lilli pointed out, "Then, this whole 'a new world for Magi' deal is just a big lie?"

Michael explained to them, "If our people knew that there was a traitor among them, they would have caused an uproar, spreading dissent among the magi. This is the first I have told anyone of my true motives. I was also concerned that, had the truth had come to light, Liebea would have undoubtedly turned against us. Instead, I told her that Karl was captured by the Empire. Powerful though she is, she is a pacifist through and through. I was unable to convince her to fight with us, but I managed to avoid her becoming an obstacle. Still, such a talented young Magus would have made a fine addition to our forces…

"In any event, I told no lies. Creating a world for Magi and ensuring my daughter's safety are one and the same." Michael told them. Asche and Spiritia couldn't believe he just said that. Spiritia said something but Asche didn't hear her as he was thinking, 'That sounded so conceded!'

"My only miscalculation would be that the two of you were at the Imperial Training hall. To be quite honest, I would have preferred to have the two of you on our side. Spiritia: with your unrivaled sense of justice, leading us into battle. And Asche: our strongest swordsman and the most experienced magi of the current RKS generation fighting on the front lines. I ask the two of you, will you return to our side? You know well enough that there is no sense in fighting for the Empire." Michael offered them.

Asche and Spiritia were silent while Lilli was really confused by the turn of events saying, "T-Tia…A-Asche…I…don't get what's going on anymore…"

Spiritia turned to her and assured, "…Lilli, my feelings won't change. How about you Asche?" Asche looked at her and gave her a wink. Spiritia knew his answer and she shouted, "Count you're wrong!"

Michael raised an eyebrow and asked, "You doubt my words then?" Spiritia shook her head and replied, "No, I think you're telling the truth. But can you imagine how hard it must be for Lilli here, and all the other creatures of the forest…to have their homes burned to the ground?!"

"…Tia…" Lilli said with admiration. Asche couldn't help but give a small smirk thinking, 'Tia sure has come a long way, that's for sure…' He heard Spiritia say, "I want to protect Iris too, but I won't let anyone be sacrificed! There has to be another way!"

"Hmph. Such naïveté, you are still a child, after all… Well, what's your answer Asche?" Michael said, turning his attention to Asche. Spiritia looked at him as he replied, "I can understand where you're coming from Count."

"Then-!" Michael said, sounding hopeful, but Asche interrupted him saying, "But there were some parts of what you said that I don't agree with." Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and pointed it at him saying, "I joined Spiritia to stop all of this, and I am known for seeing things through to the end. And I always keep my word."

That's when Spiritia said, "You're a coward Count. You got scared, ran away, and lashed out like a cornered beast!" Michael looked at her and asked, "…You claim to be any different?"

"We won't run away. Not from our powers, and definitely not from our own fate. We'll stop you and protect Iris ourselves." Spiritia declared. Asche prepared himself and thought, 'Oh no, what did I get myself into, and just after saying all that too…'

They felt a surge of power from Michael as he said, "Such empty words. If you are so certain of yourselves, then show me the true extent of your powers!" Suddenly, there was a flash of light and Michael vanished, only to appear from behind. He raised his hand and three fireballs shot out towards the two. Asche and Spiritia jumped out of the way and Asche made another jump towards Michael and tried to slash him, but Michael had teleported out of the way and reappeared behind Spiritia.

Spiritia jumped out of the way just in time as Michael had turned himself into red bats and they flew at her, ready to attack. Asche was watching this and thought, 'The heck?! Did the Count turn himself into a vampire or something?'

The bats gathered and Michael reappeared where the bats had gathered. Asche took that chance to strike at Michael again but he vanished again, making Asche think, 'That instant teleporting trick is starting to get on my nerves.'

Just as Michael reappeared, Spiritia had fired a shot right at him, which hit Michael in the back. He grunted and vanished in a flash, reappearing in a different place. Then Michael fired more fireballs at them, with Spiritia dodging two of them while Asche blocked the other one by slicing it in half. That's when Asche switched Schwert Gewehr and started firing Freudenstachel shots at Michael. He was caught off guard at the sudden attack but cast a barrier around himself that deflected all the shots.

When the barrier faded Spiritia fired a charged shot at Michael but he teleported away just before the shot connected. As Asche changed Schwert Gewehr back into a sword Michael appeared behind him and had summoned a demonic looking short sword in his hands. Asche spun around just as Michael had swung it down upon Asche. Spiritia closed her eyes in fear until she heard a clash, and when she opened her eyes she saw Asche blocking Michael's sword.

As their swords clashed, Michael said, "That's a very peculiar ability you have Asche. That looked like Freudia's spell you used."

Asche pushed Michael back and spat, "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." Asche swung down Schwert Gewehr, releasing a blast of energy. Unfortunately, Michael had teleported the instant Asche swung Schwert Gewehr, and reappeared between Asche and Spiritia.

Then Michael fired fireballs from both of his hands, each hand aimed at Asche and Spiritia. Spiritia was forced to dodge them, while Asche blocked all of them with Schwert Gewehr instead. The moment the barrage ended, Asche was about to attack when suddenly, Michael had flown over to him and tried to slice him in half, forcing Asche to block. Asche couldn't help but think, 'Damn, for an old guy, he sure has a lot of power. It must be the dark magic at work though.'

Asche was being pushed back, until Michael suddenly teleported. The next instant, Asche saw a blast of energy fly past his head which he recognized as Spiritia's. She didn't have a chance to say sorry as Michael appeared near her and took a swipe at Spiritia. He missed but her left sleeve got a cut trying to dodge. Spiritia fired another charged shot but to their surprise, Michael deflected it with a swipe of his hand. He looked at it and saw his hand slightly singed, but smirked and said, "Is that the best you can do Spiritia?"

That's when Asche went after Michael and unleashed a blast of energy, which Michael teleported out of the way of. In his haste, Michael had teleported right in front of Spiritia, who happened to have gathered enough mana for a charged shot. She fired right at his back, hitting him square on, and sending him flying forwards a bit. Asche couldn't help but think, 'Nice one Spiritia.'

Apparently, that wasn't enough as Michael got up and fired more fireballs at them, which the two dodged. Then he fired two fireballs at the floor which made the two wonder what he was up to. Suddenly they felt heat beneath their feet and instinctively jumped away, just before the ground they had stood on erupted into a pillar of flame.

Before Asche or Spiritia could react, Michael teleported to Asche and went after him with his sword. Asche blocked it and said, "In a fight against swords Count, you know you can't win." Michael pushed Asche back and replied, "We'll just see about that."

However, before Michael could do anything, Spiritia had ran up to the two and Asche felt that Spiritia was going to unleash a powerful spell. With that at hand, Asche pushed Michael's sword to the side and used the hilt of Schwert Gewehr to hit him in the gut. As Michael was trying to recover from the blow, Spiritia held her hand out and shouted, "Klageharnisch!" A giant water vortex appeared and surrounded Spiritia, with Asche jumping out of the way of the spell. Michael caught the full force of the spell and it carried him upwards.

When the spell had faded Spiritia went over to Asche's side, while Michael had crashed back down onto the floor. They watched as Michael struggled to get up and Asche saw that the spell did more damage than it should've. He wondered, "He's weak against that spell? It makes me wonder if the dark magic really turned him into a vampire or something."

"A vampire?" Spiritia asked him, sounding confused. Asche shook his head saying, "It's nothing Tia, just speculating."

Michael managed to pick himself up and said, "Argh…I underestimated the two of you. I guess I have no other choice than to use 'that'…"

Suddenly they felt the energy around Michael increase as he held out his hands. Asche gulped and said, "Oh no, this doesn't look good."

Lilli shouted back, "You think?!"

That's when Michael disappeared into a shadow and the space around them started to distort. Spiritia held onto Asche's arm on instinct as the room vanished, only to be replaced by a black void. All of a sudden, there was a loud roar, and a huge shadow appeared where Michael had stood. In his place rose a large blue demon with red horns and a tail, which freaked Lilli out but Asche said, "Tch, things just got way out of hand. The Count must be desperate to do that."

"What do you mean Asche? What is that thing?!" Spiritia shouted as the demon fired a large fireball from it's mouth. The two ducked as the fireball flew over their heads and Asche replied, "Simply put, the Count transformed himself into a demon. If we can defeat it, it might change him back to normal."

"But what if it doesn't?" Spiritia asked, looking worried as she fired a charged shot at the demon, which only served to aggravate it. Asche replied, "That's a chance we'll have to take, or else we'll fall here!" Then Asche charged forward which Schwert Gewehr in hand, activating his Overdrive in the process. Suddenly the demon swung it's arm at Asche and he blocked it with his sword, and it almost sent him flying. Asche thought, 'If it wasn't for Overdrive, that swing really would've sent me flying to who knows where.'

The demon withdrew it's arm and started firing huge fireballs from it's mouth, one after another, at Asche and Spiritia. Spiritia had to duck each time a fireball was aimed at her, while Asche used Liebesschlag to cancel out the ones fired at him. Then the demon made a leap and fired fireballs down at them, which erupted into pillars of fire. Spiritia had to run like crazy as she saw that the demon was going to land where she was, and managed to get out of the way. Although, when the demon landed it shook the ground she was on, which made her trip and fall.

Asche saw what happened and rushed like crazy over to Spiritia's side, just as the demon's mouth started to glow. Spiritia looked up and braced herself as a fireball came flying out of the demons mouth. Spiritia closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, but it didn't come. She looked up and saw that Asche was in front of her, holding Schwert Gewehr in a defensive position. She also saw that the sword was surrounded by what Spiritia recognized as Schwer-Muta's maces. Asche swung down Schwert Gewehr shouting, "Geisterwand!" This caused all of the maces surrounding his sword to fly out and pelt the demon, which distracted it as Asche helped Spiritia up and pull back. That's when Asche asked, "Tia, do you have enough energy for a full out Klageharnisch spell?"

Spiritia thought about it for a second before she replied, "Yes I do." Asche then said, "Okay, when I give the signal, cast it." That's when another barrage of fireballs came from the demon and the two dodged them. Then Asche ran straight for the demon, and cut it's leg as he daringly ran underneath it. Spiritia followed and when Asche was behind the demon he shouted, "Now!"

Asche held the gun form of Schwert Gewehr and he pointed it down to the floor as Spiritia held out her hand. The two of them shouted, "Klageharnisch!" and two water vortexes erupted, and the demon was pinned right in between them. The two vortexes engulfed the demon, and it roared in pain, when suddenly there was a flash of light and the sounds of explosions.

After the light faded Asche and Spiritia were in front of Michael, with Asche pointing Schwert Gewehr to him, while Spiritia had her hand out, ready to fire. Michael couldn't believe that he lost saying, "Gah…I had not expected such an outcome…!"

Spiritia said, "You've lost Count. We want to help you, but we can't as long as you continue like this. Please…come to your senses…For Iris…and for Zorne…"

Michael was silent, thinking until Asche asked, "Count, where's Karl? I know that you know where he really is."

This made Michael smirk and say, "Hmph, already fretting over the traitor I see. You will find him in the castle prison."

Asche thought, 'Oh no, with the castle the way it is right now, that's going to take a while.' Then Asche looked at Spiritia, with the two exchanging glances, Asche said, "We don't fully trust you yet. You went on how Karl betrayed RKS by trying to kill Iris, but you haven't given us any solid proof of that."

"If you wish to know that badly, I will tell you. Karl made an attempt on my daughter's life. Iris told me that herself." Michael told them. Both Spiritia and Lilli were shocked at that while Asche looked confused as he heard Spiritia whisper, "No way…"

"Had Iris been born a normal child, she would not be alive today." Michael told them. Asche retorted, "If Iris was a normal child, none of this would've happened Count. There would've been no reason to go after her."

Spiritia was silent while Lilli thought for a second before saying, "…Let me get this straight: so the Church wanted Iris dead, you found out about Karl, and that's the whole reason you started this war, right?"

"Lilli…?" Spiritia said, wondering where she was going with this. However, Asche realized what she was going to say and said, "You were going to ask why Iris was at the training hall when this whole mess started, right Lilli?"

Lilli pouted and said, "I wanted to say that Asche!" Asche mumbled, "Sorry…" Meanwhile Spiritia realized what they were getting at and said, "That's right! Something isn't adding up here!"

Michael looked confused and said, "What are you saying? Iris had been here the whole time…" All of a sudden Lilli flew away from Asche and Spiritia and shouted, "…Tia, Asche, look out!"

Asche suddenly felt a rise in energy up ahead and said, "Oh crap!" He grabbed Spiritia by the waist with his free hand, and jumped backwards, just as a number of lightning bolts had shot through where the two were standing, which pierced through Michael in the process. He gave a loud scream before the lightning bolts turned him into a pile of ashes.

When the bolts faded Asche and Spiritia looked to where the lightning spell came from, and were shocked to see Iris floating there. The three of them walked up to her just as she landed and said, "What a useless old man."

Spiritia was still in a state of shock as she said, "Iris?!" Asche narrowed his eyes while Lilli was confused and said, "Huh…? Wait, what's going on?!" That's when Iris said, "Tia, you truly are a fool. Thank you ever so much for all you've done up till now." That's when she raised her hand and shot a fast energy orb at her, with Lilli calling out to her, "Tia!."

Suddenly Asche ran up right in front of her but as the orb was too fast, he didn't have time to fully bring up Schwert Gewehr. This resulted in him taking most of the attack, which left him injured around his left side and arms. He spat out, "I'm still here you know."

"Oh yes, I forgot about you Asche. Though I can't but help forget when it comes to commoners." Iris said arrogantly. Spiritia called out, "Asche!" Then she turned her attention to Iris and said bitterly, "Iris…How could you do this…?"

Iris relished the look on Spiritia's face and the pain Asche was going through saying, "My, my! Those expressions suit the two of you perfectly!"

Spiritia started to get angry and shouted, "Answer me!"

Iris put up a little innocent act saying, "Whatever could you mean? Why was I at the training hall? Why did I just kill that man? Or, did you mean, what's going on in this lovely head on my shoulders?"

"All of it!" Spiritia spat out, "I don't get it, Iris… Just what's going on…?" At the same time, Asche kneeled to the ground, with Schwert Gewehr supporting him and he thought, 'Shoot, I think my Overdrive ability saved me there, or else that shot would've done even more damage somehow.'

Iris sighed and said, "There's no helping it, I see. Consider this a huuuge personal favor, Tia~!

"Most of what the dearly departed said was true. The only flaw in his story was that I made up the part about Karl. He was able to see though my façade, so I decided to get rid of him."

Spiritia was about to say something when he heard Asche laughing and he said, "So, I guess what Karl told me was true then."

"What do you mean by that Asche?" Spiritia asked him. He tried to turn around to face her but he couldn't so he replied, "Karl approached me a day before we were going to be sent to the training hall. He told me that Iris was acting suspiciously and he felt that she was hiding something from us, something that had to do with her being the reincarnation of Rosenkreuz. I thought he was being paranoid, but I guess what he said was true, even though I myself had an odd feeling about you whenever you were around Iris."

"So, the fool actually knew about me all this time." Iris said with a laugh. Then Asche coughed and asked, "I have to ask, why would you do something like that?"

Iris replied, "I was born with absolute power and unparalleled brains. Now, when someone knows everything there is to know about something, they get bored with it. That's the reason I chose to stage this little revolution: to make this world just a little less boring."

Asche and Spiritia were shocked by her answer while Lilli shouted, "Have you totally lost it?!" Spiritia added to that, "…But why the Count? He was your father!"

"Oh, you mean Mister Martyr over there?" Iris pointed to the pile of ashes that used to be Michael, "He was useless for sure, but he was clearly entertaining." Spiritia couldn't believe what she just said and whispered, "No way…"

Iris smiled at Spiritia's shock and said, "Has it sunken in yet? The two of you, the Empire, RKS…You were all dancing in the palm of my hand."

Asche managed to get a glance at Spiritia, who was shaking her head in denial saying, "I don't get it…I just don't. You're not the kind of girl that would do something like this!"

Iris laughed at that and said, "What do you really know about me?! You were completely suckered by the mask I put on. At least Asche over there had his suspicions. Such a simpleton; you were the easiest to manipulate. And dragging Asche along with you went beyond my expectations, since he might've been able to see through me at the time."

Spiritia was totally speechless about it about it while Iris went on, "Oh, that's right. Why was I at the training hall at the time? It was all an act. Hear me? An A-C-T!" Lilli shouted, "An act?!"

"Every story worth hearing has a damsel in distress, and I've always wanted to play that part. And the two of you made sure to pick up my pendant like good little heroes. Thank you!"

Spiritia took out Iris' pendant and said, "This…?" Iris pointed to that and said, "Thanks to that, I was able to observe your every move Tia, even though I couldn't see what Asche was doing when the two of you split up. It was really quite amusing, watching the two of you give it your all. No other playwright could have envisioned something so splendid!"

Asche couldn't help but feel disgusted as he tried to ignore the pain, while all Spiritia could say was, "A play…?!"

"That's right." Iris said with arrogance, turning her full attention to Spiritia, "An epic saga planned by yours truly. Pitting the peaceful Liebea against your idiotic ideals was sheer brilliance! Watching friends turn against one another thanks to a tiny seed of doubt I planted…just beautiful! Even that stoic Sichte swallowed that drivel about a world just for Magi. Hook, line, and sinker, no less! Magnificent! And witnessing the dreams of the common folk being trampled over… Hahahaha! I think I'm going to cry!"

Asche's disgust turned to anger as Lilli said, "She's awful!" Asche shook his head and said, "No Lilli, she's worse than that."

Then Iris went on to say, "Oh, and poor, poor Zorne. The wannabe daddy's girl, yearning desperately for that man to someday accept her as his real daughter… I'm his entire world, yet she still tried! Oh well, she had always hated me, so she deserved every minute of her suffering. Oh, and before I forget, that little scene where you fought against Freudia, seeing Asche cry after he destroyed that golem, then that whole emotional scene. I almost felt touched when I saw it unfold. Hahahaha! I can never get enough of watching these stupid commoners squirm around!"

Spiritia got really angry at that until she noticed that Asche had gotten up and gripped her shoulder. He said, "Leave this to me." She saw that Asche was back in Overdrive from the red glow in Asche's eyes. He looked at Iris and said, "You're just pitiful Iris." Iris looked at him with curiosity and asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Because, you sound no different than a spoiled child." Asche simply said, spitting on the ground.

They couldn't see it on her face, but Iris got angry at that. Despite that, she said, "You know, I must thank the two of you for being such quality entertainment. Unfortunately, I have no further use for the two of you. Now, who should die first?" Iris looked at the two, then said, "Oh well, I guess Tia can go first."

At that she fired an orb at Spiritia, but Asche got in front and deflected it. Iris said, "Oh, how typical, a knight defending her princess. Yes, that sounds good, letting the knight get killed while the princess looks on helplessly, before she herself gets killed. Now that sounds like a fitting ending, don't you think?"

That's when Iris fired another orb that Asche deflected with Schwert Gewehr. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to react as five more orbs were shot at him, with each one hitting his limbs and the last one hitting him in the chest. Asche screamed in pain as both Spiritia and Lilli shouted, "Asche!"

Spiritia tried to help but Iris had shot an orb at her feet. Iris told her, "You wait your turn Tia, unless you want to die with him?" That's when Asche spat, "W-who said anything about dying?"

Asche was in terrible shape, with the injuries he sustained, and was losing blood. Iris looked at him and said, "Wow, still alive are you? Normal magi would've died instantly from those attacks." Asche spat out some blood that was in his mouth and said, "I don't plan on dying here, little witch."

Spiritia had tears in her eyes, seeing Asche in his injured state. Lilli was more horrified at what Iris was doing to Asche, and she couldn't say a word. That's when Iris smiled and said, "Well, it's been fun, but you should really die now Asche."

Iris raised her hand and aimed it at Asche. When she fired the orb Spiritia and Lilli cried out, "ASCHE!" and Asche tried to raise Schwert Gewehr to defend himself.

All of a sudden, the entire chapel froze and the shot itself had stopped and froze too. Iris was completely shocked at what just happened and said, "What the…?!" That's when Freudia teleported in front of Spiritia and asked, "Tia, are you alright?"

Spiritia was stunned for a bit, but she recovered and said," Freu!" Iris couldn't believe that Freudia was there with them while Asche coughed up more blood as he said, "Nice of you, ugh, to show up Freu."

Freudia just noticed how badly Asche was injured as Iris said, "Hmph, no matter, I'll just kill Asche and be done with that." Iris fired another orb at Asche but this time, Trauare teleported right in front of Asche and deflected the shot with Leviathan. She said, "You look horrible Asche."

"Take a wild guess what happened Trau." Asche said sarcastically, trying to stay conscious. That's when Zorne, Luste, Grolla, Sichte, Liebea, and Schwer-Muta teleported into the chapel, and Iris said, "Oh my, everyone's here."

Everyone had murderous looks on their faces, even Liebea which Asche took note that it scared him a bit. Zorne was the first to speak shouting, "Iris! You're going to pay for what you did to father!"

"Oh my, so the wannabe daddy's girl speaks first, and she happens to know what happened to the old man. I must ask, how do you know?" Iris asked them. Freudia took out a gem and said, "After Liebea gathered us together, we happened to be listening in just after Asche and Spiritia defeated the Count, using this gem."

"Ha, so I take all of you heard everything? Including the part about how I framed Karl with these cute lips of mine?" Iris asked them. Liebea looked like she was ready to tear Iris apart, if not for Sichte and Grolla holding her back. Then Sichte said, "How dare you deceive us like this Iris! Have you no shame?!"

"It's not my fault that you swallowed all that drivel, when in reality you were just fighting to protect little old me. How amusing, isn't it Sichte?" Iris said smugly. Grolla snapped at her, "How dare you talk to Lady Sichte like that!"

"I can talk to commoners however I want." Iris said. Luste and Schwer-Muta looked extremely angry but looked like the words they wanted to say couldn't come out of their mouths. Iris looked at the others and saw Trauare holding back Zorne, who was in a similar state as Liebea. In fact, almost everyone there looked like they wanted a piece of Iris, until Asche started coughing violently, and spewed out more blood. That's when Iris said, "You know, all of you have two choices. You either come after me and leave Asche to die right there, or tend to him while I'll get away. I wonder what all of you will choose…"

Asche had fallen to his knees in pain and both Spiritia and Freudia went over to check on him. After taking a quick look Freudia said, "Oh no, these wounds are too serious. If we leave these untreated Asche could die within the next five minutes."

Everyone there was silent, even Zorne as Iris said, "Ha, I really can't stand it when others interfere with my plans! Hmm…in all honesty, I could kill all of you here and now, but I have a much better idea. Tia, I'll let you prepare yourselves for a final showdown."

Iris smiled and said, "You had better get ready~!" With that she teleported out of the chapel, with Zorne shouting, "Wait, Iris!"

"It's too late, she's gone already." Sichte said, "More importantly, we need to tend to Asche right now. Freudia, do you have that medicine with you?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure if it will completely heal Asche's wounds. It's more of a pick-me-up than a major healing potion." Freudia told her as she took out the potion bottle. Spiritia asked, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

That's when Sichte got an idea and said, "We can try pouring our mana into the potion, with our energies it may amplify the potion's effectiveness."

Trauare looked a bit skeptical and asked, "Will that work?"

"It's our only hope, since there are no other options." Spiritia said. The others slowly nodded and Freudia said, "Okay, everyone please gather around." Everyone gathered together, and on Freudia's mark, they started pouring their energy into the potion. When Freudia told them to stop, the potion had started to glow blue.

Then the group decided on what to do. Spiritia and Freudia tended to Asche, who had collapsed into an unconscious state. Sichte, Grolla, Liebea, Luste, and Schwer-Muta decided on going to the castle prison to rescue Karl. Trauare was with Zorne, who was over the ashes that used to be her father, and was grieving silently.

When Freudia gave Asche the potion, his wounds started to heal, and oddly enough, his clothes started to mend themselves too. The two girls laid down Asche on the ground, with Freudia putting his head on her lap, so she could give him the potion. Now, Asche was fully healed but was still unconscious, and Freudia winced in pain, with Spiritia asking, "Freu, are you alright?!"

"I seem to have overdone it a little, but I'll be fine… Tia, you need to go after Iris right now!" Freudia told her.

Spiritia shook her head and said, "But-!" but Freudia raised her hand and said, "Asche will be fine, and the others are already taking care of Karl." Then Freudia lowered her voice and said, "I can't explain it right now, but you are the only one who has the chance of defeating Iris right now."

Freudia took out another bottle and said, "Here, take this. It's like the one I gave Asche but without the extra energy. It should rejuvenate you to full form."

Spiritia took the potion from Freudia saying, "…I got it. Thanks Freu." That's when Freudia also gave her the gem she showed Iris saying, "You can probably catch her using this Silberflugel spell. Don't ask me how I know about it, just that this gem can also amplify the power of that spell too, so you can catch up to her."

Spiritia nodded as Lilli said, "Tia, let's get moving." Then Spiritia told Freudia, "Freu…I'll settle this once and for all. For Asche, and for all of you."

As Spiritia teleported out of the room Freu whispered, "Tia…Please come back in one piece." That's when she heard a moan and looked down. She saw that Asche was coming too and soon, he slowly opened his eyes saying, "Ugh, what happened to me…?"

"Glad to see that you're awake Asche." Freudia said. Asche looked up at her and said, "Freu? Ow…the last thing I remember is everyone showing up, and Iris leaving." Freudia informed him, "We healed you by using a potion that the nine of us powered up with our energy. You probably would've died if we didn't treat you…"

Asche rubbed his head and said, "That's right, Iris tried to kill Tia, but I blocked her shot. Then Iris came after me saying that she was going to kill me, to see the anguish on Tia's face, or something like that, I think." That's when he realized that he was on Freudia's lap and said, "Uh, you don't mind if I try to get up, do you?"

Freudia turned pink for a second before she replied, "Uh, sure…" Asche tried to get up, but felt sore and eventually gave up. Freudia told him, "I guess it's the effect of the energized medicine."

Asche nodded and just relaxed. That's when Zorne and Trauare walked over, and they saw that Zorne's eyes were a bit red. Trauare said, "Oh, so you're up Asche? That's good; I don't want you dying on me before we have our match."

Asche laughed and said, "I just got careless, that's all. I'll be more alert from now on."

Trauare nodded and said, "I'm going to take Zorne back to Haven. The loss of the Count has really affected her." Both of them nodded and as they teleported Freudia heard Asche whisper, "I'm sorry Zorne…"

Now Asche and Freudia were alone and Asche asked, "So, did Tia go off chasing after Iris?" Freudia nodded and replied, "Yes, and she is pretty determined to stop Iris. I think that seeing your injured state might have affected her."

Asche raised an eyebrow at that, and asked, "Really…"

That's when Freudia started getting a bit emotional and said, "Me too, when I saw your injured state, I felt that my heart nearly stopped for a moment. I think I understand what you went through, when you destroyed my golem…"

A small smile escaped Asche's lips as he said, "I'm really glad you came through for us Freu. But I wonder, what's with the change of heart?" Freudia looked into his eyes and said, "Well, after our confrontation, I felt that something was amiss with the entire situation, so I did a little investigation. I suspected Iris for a while, but she turned out more than what I expected…"

Asche smirked and said, "Tell me about it. Ha…I should've seen it sooner. I mean, Karl did tell me about it, and I too had a suspicious feeling about her. Ugh, I might've been able to do something, so that this coup wouldn't have happened."

"Don't blame yourself Asche. How were any of us supposed to have guessed that a young girl like Iris would've been able to plan something like this." Freudia told him. Asche argued saying, "But I knew that she was the reincarnation of Rosenkreuz, yet I ignored that fact as if it didn't matter." There was a moment of silence, and that's when Asche tried to get up, and was successful at that.

Now that Asche was on his feet, yet a bit wobbly, he walked over and picked up Schwert Gewehr, which was lying on the floor, and sheathed it. Then he took out the pearl that held Raimund's Grollschwert and stuck it on the ground, were it stood there. Asche said, "Freu, tell Grolla that the Count used the forbidden arts to resurrect Sir Raimund, okay? This sword is his Grollschwert that he used in his fight against me and Tia. It belongs to her now."

Freudia shivered a bit at the sight of the sword, yet said, "Okay Asche, I'll tell her."

"Thanks," Asche took out another pearl which held his teleportation stone that he took from Haven and materialized it in his hand looking at it. He said to himself, "Shoot, only two charges left. Oh well, they're enough."

Then Asche stretched a bit, and groaned in pain in a few instances. Freudia was about to help him when Asche held out his hands and said, "It's alright Freu. Well I'd better go and catch up to Tia. Let's just hope that she's not flying around when I catch up to her."

"Are you sure you should be up already?" Freudia asked him. Asche winked at her saying, "Your medicine did wonders Freu. Even I'm amazed at how well it worked." Asche focused on the teleportation stone and said, "Don't worry Freu, I'll make sure Tia comes home in one piece, I can promise you that."

In a flash, Asche had vanished from the chapel, with Freudia saying softly, "Please come back safely Asche…"


	14. The Golden Palace

Chapter 13 – The Golden Palace

With the gem Spiritia acquired from Freudia that enhanced her Silberflugel spell, Spiritia used Silberflugel Zwei to chase down Iris to a place that looked like a palace made out of gold that was in front of a lake. It wasn't that far from Castle Zeppelin either, only over a mountain range that was close by. She managed to reach the place, but Lilli noticed that the glow from the gem was starting to fade, and said, "Tia? I don't think the gem's going to last much longer…"

"Don't worry, we're already here." Spiritia told her as she landed near one of the palace's towers on it's west side. The spell faded just as she jumped off of it, and was standing in front of an entrance that led inside. Spiritia opened the door and went through, and was shocked at what she saw.

The entire inside of the palace looked weird, from the floating platforms leading up one side of the room to the floating body of water on the other side. Each one had a ladder that led upwards, but the body of water looked strange to her. Lilli said, "Tia, this place gives me the creeps, everything looks so weird here!"

"It must be Iris' doing." Spiritia told her. The two looked around and felt a bit freaked out about the palace, when all of a sudden, there was a flash of light.

When the light faded, the two saw Asche standing there, looking perfectly fine, which particularly surprised Spiritia. She stood there speechless as Asche said, "Yo Tia."

That's when Spiritia got her voice back and asked, "Asche?! What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be resting?!"

Asche smiled at her and replied, "What, and let you and Lilli go on by yourselves? No way, something like a few shots from that brat won't stop me. And like I said earlier, I'll stick with you until this whole thing is over with. Right Tia?"

Spiritia's eyes began to tear and she wiped her eyes with her sleeves saying, "Yes, you're right. Thank you Asche, but really, shouldn't you be resting with the others? I mean, Iris did hurt you pretty badly…"

Asche moved around and stretched a bit, saying, "Don't worry, Freu's medicine did it's job on me, and I'm up and about, good as new. Well, I do feel a bit sore though, I admit, but that should fade once I fight some monsters." Asche looked around the room they were in and said, "So, this is where Iris ran of to, eh? What a weird place, especially that floating body of water over there…"

"I think this is due to Iris' magic. Her being here must've distorted the space around the palace." Spiritia said. Asche shook his head and said, "That girl grew too arrogant with her powers and knowledge." Then he whispered, "Just as he had written…"

"Eh? Did you say something Asche?" Spiritia asked him. Asche looked at her and replied, "No, it's nothing Tia." Spiritia looked at him one last time and let it go, though Lilli heard what he said and wondered who he was talking about. She didn't have time to think about it however, when she saw Asche and Spiritia go up the ladder to their left and shouted, "Hey, wait for me!"

Asche and Spiritia traveled through the palace, and were at their wit's end trying to get through all the traps and monsters blocking their path. Asche noticed the amount of water in the palace as they traveled and joked, "Hey, do you think Iris was trying to build a one of a kind pool for herself, but failed badly?"

Spiritia giggled at that as she said, "Oh, I don't know Asche. She could've." She fired at a monster that held an electric ball that was crawling along the ceiling before it could drop.

The two kept on going and they managed to make their way past the areas that had water in them, and reached an empty area that was quite spacious. They were a bit cautious due to past experience, and they were right when there was an ear-piercing wail, and a giant eagle with red eyes appeared on the other side of the room, blocking the way. A barrier formed around the way they came in, trapping them in the room with the bird.

"Whoa! Now that's one big eagle!" Asche shouted in surprise. All Spiritia could do was nod in agreement as she saw the eagle prepare to attack.

The giant eagle first fired a beam of magical energy from it's beak, much to the surprise of Asche and Spiritia. This forced the two to split apart to dodge the beam, as Spiritia fired a shot at the eagle in retaliation.

Unfortunately, the eagle made one swipe of its wing and deflected the shot as it screeched. Asche saw what happened, and shouted, "Tia, you and Lilli go on ahead! I'll deal with this overgrown bird!"

As Asche fired a few Freudenstachel shots at the eagle's face, Spiritia shouted back, "No Asche, I'm staying with you to the end, you got that!"

Asche sighed at the answer and figured that Spiritia won't budge on this, especially after the Iris incident back at Castle Zeppelin. So he said, "Okay fine. I do hope you know what you're doing Tia…"

The two dodged another energy beam as Spiritia shouted, "Now, let's take down this giant chicken Asche!"

Apparently, the eagle didn't like being called a chicken, so it started to swipe at the two with it's wings, making Asche shout, "I think you made it angry Tia!"

Spiritia dodged another wing swipe as she shouted back, "I didn't mean to!" The eagle stopped with the wing swiping and fired off a stronger than usual energy beam. It hit the ground and the eagle directed the beam towards Asche in a sweeping motion. He gulped and started to run away from it, while Spiritia noticed that the eagle had some injuries on it's face. That was when she remembered that Asche had fired Freudenstachel at it, while the two of them argued.

Meanwhile, the beam was catching up to Asche, despite him running as fast as he could. He wanted to infuse mana into his legs, but felt that it started to hurt badly every time he tried, and figured that he wasn't completely healed. That made him think, 'Rrgh, this isn't good!'

All of a sudden, the beam vanished and the eagle shrieked in pain, thrashing where it stood. Asche looked around and saw that there were a few icicles stuck in the eagle's face, and he turned around over to Spiritia, who had her hand raised at it. Asche shouted, "Thanks Tia, thought I was a goner for a sec!"

As Asche ran over to Spiritia's side she told him, "Not problem Asche. It looks like the eagle's head is its weak point."

The giant eagle managed to recover and gave a loud shriek, which created a shockwave. The two braced themselves as the shockwave ripped through the room, which felt quite painful as they stood their ground, trying not to get blown away.

When Asche looked up noticed that there was a magic circle on the eagle's head, right in between the eyes. He thought, 'A magic circle? Is this bird a magical construct? If so, then that circle must be keeping it here in this world. Then…!'

That's when Asche fired a volley of Freudenstachel shots at the eagle as he said, "Tia, think you can distract it?"

"I'm assuming you have a plan?" Spiritia asked, as she watched the eagle shake off the icicles that Asche shot at it, making her shoot her own. Asche nodded with a smile as he replied, "Of course. I may be reckless, but I'm not suicidal, that's for sure…" The eagle recovered and started to fire short bursts of energy at the two.

Asche and Spiritia sprung into action, as Spiritia fired off Seelegewehr shots at the eagle in order to distract it. The tactic worked perfectly as one of the shots hit the magic circle, causing the eagle to screech and turn its attention onto Spiritia. This let Asche sneak behind it as he thought, 'I hope that Tia can hold out… Now I'll do my part.' Asche infused his legs with mana again, and felt pain as he struggled to keep his mouth shut.

For a moment, Asche struggled with the pain as he held onto his concentration. Then, suppressing the pain, he ran forward and jumped onto the eagle's back. The eagle was caught off guard by this, and it started to try to shake him off as Asche held on for dear life.

Back over to Spiritia and Lilli, the eagle's sudden actions confused them, with Lilli asking, "What the heck is it doing?"

"It must be Asche's doing." Spiritia replied as she ran out of the way of the thrashing eagle, avoiding a wing swipe.

On the eagle's back, Asche was slowly climbing up while trying not to get thrown off. Eventually he reached the neck and the thrashing was starting to get worse, so he took out Schwert Gewehr and plunged it into the bird's neck shouting, "Stay down!"

The eagle shrieked in immense pain which made it stop thrashing, as Asche quickly took out Schwert Gewehr out of the eagle's neck and climbed up to the eagle's head, seeing the magic circle.

Asche quickly poured mana into Schwert Gewehr and stabbed the middle of the circle before the eagle could realize what just happened. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as the eagle froze in mid-movement. Then Asche quickly pulled out Schwert Gewehr and jumped off as the eagle glowed with a white light and started to vanish as it fell.

Asche landed near Spiritia as she walked up to him, just as the last of the monster had vanished. Asche looked at Spiritia and said, "Whew, now that's been taken care of, we can move on, right?"

"…Sure." Spiritia said with a small smile, still a bit worried about Asche's condition.

The two of them made their way to the exit, with Spiritia leaving first. Asche followed after, but stopped for a second as a surge of pain overtook him for an instant. It quickly passed and he thought, 'Better lay off the mana infusion, especially the Overdrive, for a while, unless it's a life threatening situation. I still need to pay Iris back for what she did to me and the other RKS members. And I can't do it if I'm in constant pain…'

That's when Spiritia's voice called out to him saying, "Asche? Are you coming?"

Asche took a deep breath and replied, "Yeah, I'm coming…" Then he went through the door and ran, catching up to Spiritia.

The two continued on their way through the palace, with Lilli acting as a lookout for any enemies that might try to ambush them. They went through several rooms which Asche could only describe as bizarre. As they walked down another hallway, Spiritia heard Asche mutter, "What a crazy and stupid place. Wonder if it reflects what's inside Iris' head…"

As they kept on going Asche couldn't believe how things have turned out. Only six months ago they were assigned to the training hall six months ago yet to him if only felt like yesterday…

* * *

_Flashback, six months ago_

_ Asche and Spiritia just left Michael's office after they were told of their latest assignment: becoming instructors at the Imperial Training Hall for six months. Spiritia said, "It's still weird Asche. I mean I can understand why the Count would send you, but why me? I don't have that much experience in teaching others."_

_ "Don't worry about it so much. Just give it a week or two and you'll get used to it." Asche told her. Up ahead they saw Freudia waiting for them as she leaned on the wall. She got up when she saw Asche and Spiritia coming her way and asked, "So, what did the Count say?"_

_ "He's given the two of us teaching duties at the Imperial Training Hall." Asche replied. Freudia's eyes widened a bit as she looked at Spiritia. Spiritia said, "I know, it's shocking for me."_

_ Asche rolled his eyes and said, "Tia, put more faith in yourself. You taught Liebea and Schwer how to control their magic, and even though Liebea still has trouble, she's been better off than how she used to be. Schwer too, she's now a wiz with her Geisterwand spell thanks to you teaching her."_

_ "You helped too Asche." Spiritia said, acknowledging him. _

_ Asche shook his head and said, "No, all I did was watch over you. You did all the work Tia." Freudia nodded and said, "Don't worry, if something goes wrong Asche will be there to cover for you."_

_ "Don't get your hopes up you two. Me and Tia were assigned to different duties so we probably won't see each other much. She's taking care of the new RKS recruits while I take care of the Empire's trainees." Asche told them, "Hmm, that reminds me, I still don't know the four members that Tia's supposed to be teaching. I think I remember one, Dolis…something. Ah forget it; I know for a fact that Tia's going to be just fine."_

_ "That's true." Freudia replied. That's when Liebea walked by and saw the three of them. She walked over and said, "Uh, hello everyone."_

_ Asche, Spiritia, and Freudia looked over to her and Asche said, "Hi Liebea, what's up?" Liebea looked a bit tense as she asked, "Is it true that you and Miss Tia are going away for a while?"_

_ "Yeah, it's true Liebea. Asche and I are going to be at the Imperial Training Hall for six months. It's the Count's orders." Spiritia told her. Liebea nodded and said, "I see… Well, I came by to get Asche. My brother wants to see him."_

_ "Karl? What, did something happen?" Freudia asked. Liebea just shook her head and replied, "I don't know, all he asked me to do was to take Asche to him. He said he had something important to tell Asche."_

_ Asche rubbed his chin and said, "Hmm, if it's from Karl it must be serious. Alright Liebea, lead the way. Tia, Freu, I'll see you two later."_

_ "Alright." Both Spiritia and Freudia said at the same time. Asche just smirked while Spiritia and Freudia looked at each other. Liebea giggled and walked away, with Asche following her._

_ As they walked down another corridor Asche asked, "So Liebea, how are you doing with your powers?" Liebea looked down a bit as she replied, "It's still not good. I can control my powers to a degree but…"_

_ "I know that you don't like fighting Liebea, but there are times where you will have to defend yourself." Asche told her. _

_ Liebea just nodded and said, "I know, but still…" Asche put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner and said, "It's okay, I understand how important your beliefs are to you, but it wouldn't hurt to train a bit you know? If your powers went out of control who knows what could happen."_

_ "…I understand Asche." Liebea said. She led Asche to a door that had a sign saying 'Palesch' on it and Liebea told him, "Brother's inside. I'd better get going, I have something else to do. Bye Asche."_

_ "Later Liebea." Asche said. As he watched Liebea walk away he thought, 'Wonder what Karl wants?' Asche knocked on the door and said, "Karl? It's me." Karl's voice came through the door saying, "Come in Asche."_

_ Asche opened the door and walked in, and saw that Karl was sitting near is desk, writing something. Asche closed the door behind him and asked, "So, what was it you wanted to say Karl?"_

_ Karl turned around and looked at him in the eyes, and Asche saw that he was dead serious. Karl said, "Asche, what do you think of Iris?"_

_ That question caught Asche off guard and he asked, "I think she's a nice girl. Why?" _

_ Karl shook his head and said, "You mean you haven't seen it? That girl's hiding something from us, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that she's the reincarnation of Rosenkreuz."_

_ "Okay, now you're sounding paranoid Karl. Sure, I have had an odd feeling about Iris every time I'm around her, but what makes you think that she's hiding something?" Asche asked. Karl looked desperate as he said, "Look, I'm not too sure about it myself, but I've seen this weird look in her eyes that tells me she's hiding something from us."_

_ Asche sighed and said, "Okay, so let's just say that Iris is hiding something from us. What the heck would we be able to do about it? The Count fawns over that girl like she's the only thing that matters to him, and if we try anything the Count can label us as traitors and kick us out of RKS. And if that happens what do you think will happen to Liebea?" _

_ Karl thought about it for a moment before he replied, "Look, since I don't have any concrete proof of anything I can't really do much. I pray that I'm wrong about this, but if my suspicions are correct, I might need your help. So can I count on you if the time comes?"_

_ There was a moment of silence as Asche thought about it. Then he replied, "Fine, but I gotta tell you, Tia and I have been assigned to be instructors at the Imperial Training Hall for six months, so I won't be here for a while."_

_ Karl nodded and said, "I understand. I'm just glad that I have your support on this one." _

_ The two shook hands as Asche said, "You know, let's just pray that Iris is just a nice little girl with exceptional powers and that's it. Things have been going quite nicely here and the restructuring of the ranks has been going just as smoothly."_

_ "I understand that." Karl said, "I gotta ask, is Tia really being assigned as an instructor?" _

_ Asche laughed and said, "Yeah, and apparently, she was shocked too. She thinks that she doesn't have what it takes to be one."_

_ "That's not true, since she did train my sister, and her control over her powers is much better than it used to be." Karl said, "Tia will be an excellent instructor."_

_ Asche got up and said, "Well, I'd better go and get ready. We're leaving tomorrow morning so that doesn't leave me much time to pack." As Asche opened the door he said, "I'll keep what you said in mind Karl, and let's just hope it really is just a feeling."_

_ "I know what you mean. Liebea and I will see the two of you off tomorrow." Karl said. Asche said, "See you later then." _

_ When he closed the door Asche thought, 'As much as I hate to admit it, if what is written in my family's book is true, then…' Asche shook his head and thought, 'Writings can be wrong so let's just forget about it for now.' Then he walked away, focusing his thoughts on the job that he and Spiritia were assigned to do._

* * *

Present time

Soon, Asche and Spiritia wound up in a golden room that had a hole in it. All of a sudden, Asche said, "Tia, I've been wondering, do you still have Iris' pendant?"

Spiritia shook her head and replied, "No, Lilli destroyed it on our way here."

Asche nodded at that and said, "Good, at least we don't have to worry about Iris watching us as if we're specimens anymore. So, what will it be? You go first, or we go together?"

Spiritia took a moment to register what Asche just said, and when her mind reached the last part, she blushed and replied, "Um…well, I-."

Asche watched her as Lilli joined in saying, "You might as well carry her Asche, or else we'll probably be waiting here all day for her answer hunya!"

Spiritia was a bit miffed at that, while Asche waved his hand and said, "I guess you're right. Tia can be indecisive at times."

Spiritia shouted, "Hey!" But she couldn't say anymore as Asche picked her up bridal style again and jumped through the hole, with Lilli going after them.

The two didn't fall very far, as they landed in a golden room that apparently didn't have any doors, or any other openings for that matter, except for the one above. As Asche put Spiritia down, who was still a bit miffed about earlier, Lilli flew down to them saying, "What's with this room? It's a complete dead end!"

"This is why you shouldn't jump head first into things Asche!" Spiritia told him. Asche was about to reply when he heard a faint rumbling and said, "Hey, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Spiritia asked him. All of a sudden, four chains came down from above and anchored themselves into the floor. They looked up and saw a mean-looking golden spider appear from above. Spiritia looked at it and said, "There are even monsters like that here?"

"…You're not serious, are you Tia? Anyway, it must be another one of Iris' abominations." That's when a series of smaller chains appeared and connected between the four main ones randomly, making Asche and Spiritia wonder what was happening. Suddenly Lilli shouted, 'Watch out guys!" The two saw that the spider started to climb down rapidly and randomly between the chains. This forced Asche to grab Spiritia and jump out of the way, just as the spider crashed down onto the spot that Asche and Spiritia used to be, looking at them with it's red eyes.

That's when Asche noticed a glowing white orb on the spider's back. He quickly took out Schwert Gewehr and made a dash towards the spider. Asche made a slash at it, but his reach fell short due to a tiny spasm in his legs. Nonetheless, Asche managed to hit the orb, causing the spider to thrash in pain for a bit before it pulled itself up out of reach.

"Hmph, did you see that Tia?" Asche asked, while keeping a lookout for the spider. Spiritia nodded and replied, "Yup, it's the weak spot right?"

All of a sudden, a bunch of mini spiders rained down upon them, with Asche slicing apart those that tried to land on them. Spiritia took care of the rest of them but saw that the chains have changed and the spider was coming back down to get them. The two jumped out of the way, just as the spider crashed down again.

Suddenly, Spiritia did something that Asche found quite surprising, along with Lilli. Spiritia gathered mana into her right hand and ran forward towards the spider. A ball of energy form in front of her hand which she balled into a fist, just as the spider lashed out with one of it's legs. She dodged it, and then she aimed right at the spider's weak spot, punching it with the orb of energy she collected.

The spider shrieked again and retreated, and that's when Asche saw spikes stick out of the walls. He shouted, "Tia, get down!" Spiritia got down, as well as Asche, just as a number of spikes shot out of the walls and flew over their heads, hitting the opposite walls from where they were shot from.

A moment later, another bunch of mini-spiders came down upon them as they got up. Asche got rid of them all, and the spider started crawling its way down again. Spiritia tried to move, but she tripped, and as luck would have it, her foot had somehow gotten stuck in the crack that she tripped on. Spiritia tried to get her foot out as the spider looked at her with it's red eyes. The spider crawled it's way down towards her as Spiritia struggled to remove her foot from the crack, while Lilli urged her, "Hurry Tia, it's getting closer!"

Spiritia started to panic until she heard Asche shout, "Hey ugly, over here!"

Asche's shout got the spider's attention, as well as Spiritia and Lilli's. They saw him fly off the wall and towards the spider. It didn't have a chance to react as Asche swung down Schwert Gewehr, releasing a blast of energy at it, which slammed into the spider, sending it flying off the chain it was on and into the wall. The orb on it's back shattered due to the force of the blast, effectively killing the spider.

Spiritia watched as the lifeless body of the spider turned to dust, while Asche went over and got Spiritia's foot out of the crack. As Asche helped Spiritia up she said, "Thank you Asche."

Asche nodded and said, "Ah, it's nothing Tia." He looked around and asked, "So…how do we get out of here?"

As if to answer his question, a magic circle appeared beneath him and Lilli shouted, "What the heck is this?!"

"Oh no, it's a teleportation circle!" Spiritia shouted, just before the three of them vanished in a flash.

In another place in the palace, Iris felt the spell activate and she said to herself, "So, those fools came after all. Though I must admit, I am a bit surprised that he's with her. Oh well, it doesn't matter how many of those fools come after me. I'll just crush them like the insignificant insects they are, tehe~!"


	15. The Garden of Time and Space

Chapter 14 – The Garden of Time and Space

After killing the monster spider, Asche, Spiritia, and Lilli were instantly teleported out of the room into another area of the palace. The three wound up in a place that looked like an indoor garden, yet had no glass roof on top. As the light faded, the three looked around with Asche saying, "Where the heck did we end up?"

"It looks like we're in another part of the palace. Probably the palace gardens, or something of the sort." Spiritia replied. Asche took another look around and said, "A garden? Looks more like an unnatural plant infestation."

"I agree with Asche. This place doesn't feel natural to me." Lilli told them. As Lilli flew back to Spiritia she said, "It doesn't matter, we still need to move on, or else Iris will turn the world into her own personal playground!"

Asche nodded and said, "I hear that, so let's move!"

The two walked forward and entered a corridor that was in front of them. As they walked, the three of them had an odd feeling about the place, despite it looking oddly beautiful. They continued walking, killing plant monsters that sprung up at them, until they reached a dead end, which had a pair of waterfalls at the end. Asche got curious about the waterfall that seemed to be going upwards, while Lilli said, "It's a dead end Tia. What now?"

"I don't know." Spiritia replied. Then she noticed Asche slowly walking forward, towards the waterfalls, making her ask, "Asche? What are you doing?"

Asche didn't respond as he touched the waterfall, and saw that it was just an illusion, since he didn't get wet. He continued to look forward when Spiritia called out to him, "Hey Asche! Answer me!"

Asche touched the waterfall going upwards and felt his hand rising. He turned his head to Spiritia and replied, "Tia, please pray that I come out of this in one piece."

"What?!" Spiritia shouted, just as Asche jumped into the waterfall. In an instant, Asche flipped over and flew through the opening in the roof with a surprised shout.

Spiritia heard a thud and a groan from Asche, hearing him say, "Ow, what the heck just happened?" She took that as a signal that it was safe to go after him and shouted, "Asche, you better watch out!"

Before Asche could say something Spiritia jumped into the waterfall and the same thing happened to her. She landed right beside him and started to get a bit dizzy at the sudden gravity change.

Meanwhile Asche had his eyes closed and Spiritia thought he was being a gentleman when she jumped after him, until he saw him shake his head slightly and say, "Ugh, I feel so dizzy."

Asche took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. He took a look around, and spotted Spiritia. She was busy looking around also as she asked, "Wha-what just happened?" Asche looked at the waterfall and replied, "It's probably another one of Iris' tricks that seem to deal with the waterfalls. I can only guess that the waterfalls change the direction of gravity or something. I'm not too sure on how to explain it."

There was a moment of silence before Spiritia said, "Let's keep going. If we look ahead maybe the distortion won't throw us off when we fight. Honestly, the only difference I can see is the upside down trees." At those words, Asche sighed, took out Schwert Gewehr, and said, "Okay Tia, lead the way."

Lilli smiled and thought, 'Tia sure knows how to give a pep talk sometimes.' Asche and Spiritia made their way through the gardens, going through a series of gravity flips that nearly made Asche puke along the way.

Soon they entered an area where gravity was normal and the two were walking, or more accurately, Spiritia was walking while Asche was stumbling behind, feeling a bit dizzy. As they moved Asche thought, 'How the heck is Tia still walking like nothing's happened? Gah, I must be slipping. I better do some training when we get back.'

The two saw another pair of waterfalls up ahead, but all of a sudden, the waterfalls ahead froze into ice, which to them was quite a shocker. Asche and Spiritia turned around, only to find that the waterfall on the other end had frozen up too, sealing off both ends of the corridor they were in. Asche shouted, "What now?!"

Suddenly there was a flash of light that blinded them, and when it faded, they saw a Wood Nymph standing before them. Asche, Spiritia, and Lilli looked a bit dumbfounded for a second as Asche said, "You know, I was kinda expecting something more, right Tia?"

"…I don't think you should've said that." Spiritia replied, pointing at the nymph. Asche turned and saw that the nymph was glowing with a white light, looking quite angry at Asche's comment. Suddenly it transformed into a more humanoid form, with it's lower trunk body being replaced with legs. Vines started to wrap themselves around it, while the nymph's eyes glowed with a faint red and gave a smile that would just about creep anyone out.

Asche gripped Schwert Gewehr just as the nymph fired a few vines at him and Spiritia. They quickly got out of the way as the nymph started to lash out at Asche with it's vines, forcing him on the defensive. Spiritia prepared to defend herself also, but noticed that the nymph was solely focusing on Asche. Lilli said, "That nymph's just focusing on Asche. You think it's still angry at what Asche just said?"

"It must be, and we can use that to our advantage. Let's just hope that Asche can hold out, 'cause that nymph looks really vicious attacking Asche." Spiritia replied, adjusting her aim.

Meanwhile, Asche was on the total defensive as the nymph started to attack him with a few more vines, bringing the total up to four vines. Asche had a few cuts on his face, arms, and legs as he blocked each one of the nymph's strikes, and he even attempted to cut off some of the vines. He was successful but he learned the hard way that the vines were capable of quick regeneration and for each one that he cut off, another would come at him.

The attacks were taking a toll on Asche as his defense was starting to slip, and that's when the nymph slammed a vine down at him, sending him flying into the ice wall. He crashed into it and fell down onto the ground. Wincing, Asche looked up and saw the nymph look at him like a predator looking at it's prey. That's when Spiritia shouted, "Hey nymph, over here!"

The nymph turned around but it was too late as Spiritia had already thrown a bomb at the nymph, which exploded on contact. This sent the nymph flying straight into the ice wall like Asche and collapsed on the ground.

As it laid there the nymph started to glow again and this time, it transformed into a mini version of it but with a radical change to it's appearance. Asche got up and looked over at it, with Spiritia walking over to see what happened. The nymph was now around Lilli's size, with a forest green robe that covered most of her body. The nymph's pale green hair was now down to it's shoulders and all of a sudden, a pair of wings the same color as the nymph's robe sprouted out from it's back. Spiritia was surprised by the sudden change as she said, "Whoa, she looks like a fairy now. Do you know what happened Lilli?"

"Uh, let's see… First I need to tell you a bit about us fairies." Lilli told them. Asche picked up the nymph with his free hand by her wings. On a closer look, he saw that she looked just like a fairy now as Lilli said, "I'm not sure about all fairies but some of us change form when we gain enough power. But I'm not sure about this one, because I'm sure that we can't change into Wood Nymphs."

"I see…" Asche said. The nymph-now-fairy was starting to stir and she mumbled, "Umm…where am I?" The fairy opened it's eyes and looked around, when she realized that she was being held by Asche by her wings. She started to struggle saying, "Ah, now I remember! I was whipping your ass for calling me useless!"

Asche narrowed his eyes and asked, "Since when did I say that?!"

The fairy gulped at the look and tone coming from Asche and she meekly replied, "Uh, well, when I teleported here…"

Asche got a bit angry and spat saying, "I said I was expecting something more, not that you were useless!" He started shaking the little fairy in anger, making her feel sick.

Spiritia tried to calm him down saying, "Asche, please calm down, you still have injuries from her lashings."

At that Asche stopped shaking the little fairy, who was quite shaken up. Spiritia thought that he stopped when she told him to, until she saw that he was starting to wince. She looked at Lilli, who got the message, so she flew over to his side and starting healing him. As Lilli was healing him Spiritia asked the fairy, "So, what's your name?"

"Um, I'm Miraina." Miraina replied, a bit surprised at being asked for her name. Spiritia pressed on, "So, what were you doing here Miraina? This place isn't exactly safe you know."

Lilli finished healing Asche's injuries as Miraina explained, "Well, I travel around a lot, looking for power. So I came across this place and felt some kind of weird power pulsating from it. So I decided to explore, but I can't seem to remember what happened after that. Parts of my memory seem fuzzy."

Spiritia looked at Lilli and asked, "Does she look familiar to you?" Lilli shook her head and replied, "No, though I have heard of a traveling fairy that searches for places saturated with mana."

Miraina puffed out her chest and said proudly, "So my reputation precedes me." Then Lilli said, "Heard that she was a thief of sorts…"

That ticked Miraina off as she shouted, "What?! A thief? Me? No, I just go around and absorb a small amount of mana from each of the places I visit!" Suddenly Miraina slumped and felt weak with Asche slightly shaking her saying, "Hey Miraina, what happened?"

"Ha… I think that transformation drained me of my energy. I don't think I can move now…" Miraina said in a tired voice. Spiritia looked at Asche who said, "Well, we can send her to Haven. All we have to do is attach a note to her telling the others to treat her."

Spiritia and Lilli thought about it before Spiritia said, "That sounds like a good plan, but how do we tell them that we sent her?"

Asche thought about it for a moment before he took out one of his displacement pearls and said, "I'll just give her one of these." He put Miraina down on the ground and said, "Here, take this and tell whoever's at Haven that Asche and Spiritia sent you to rest. Hopefully it's either Freu or Liebea, but anyone can do. Spiritia, if you would please?"

"On it Asche." Spiritia changed the teleportation circle as a it formed under Miraina. The last thing they heard her say was, "Thank you very much, and I'm sorry."

Then as Miraina vanished in a flash of light, the ice walls shattered and returned to being waterfalls. Asche got up and stretched a bit saying, "Well, we ran into a bit of a detour just now, but I doubt that was the last of them."

"Right, we'll check up on her after we're finished with Iris." Spiritia said. Lilli nodded and said, "I'll talk to her later. I wonder if she'll tell me what adventures she had."

Asche went on ahead and he went through another gravity flip thanks to the waterfall. Spiritia heard him groan and she went after him, going through the same process.

Just then they saw that there was an open pit in front of them that was lined with spikes. Asche groaned and said, "Figures, so when do we jump?"

"We jump now!" Spiritia shouted, and the two of them jumped into the open pit. They kept falling until they ended up in a grand looking hallway. Asche landed on a platform while Spiritia missed and landed on the roof of the hall. He was about to call out when Spiritia said, "I'm fine Asche, just missed. Let's just keep going."

Asche nodded and both he and Spiritia went on through the hallway, cutting and blasting down monsters that were in their path. As the walked however, Asche noticed a floating red eyeball watching them through the windows and he thought, 'What's with that eyeball? Is it Iris? I'm sure Tia must've noticed too.'

They kept on going until they reached the end of the hallway, which had grand doors at the end. With the both of them on the floor after one last gravity flip, Asche opened the door and the two went through, hoping that it would lead out of the gardens and into another part of the palace.

The doors closed behind them and they ended up in a large room that didn't have any other doors. They walked forward to see if there really weren't any other doors, and Asche was considering smashing the windows in order to get out. That's when Lilli pointed out, "…Tia, that eyeball's been staring at us for quite a while…"

"It's got to be Iris. I'm sure she's watching us, wherever she is…" Spiritia said darkly. Asche laughed and said, "Jeez, you'd think that girl had nothing better to do. If she's really watching us she must really be desperate for entertainment."

Spiritia couldn't help but giggle at that, until Lilli noticed something coming from behind them and shouted, "Tia, Asche, behind you!"

"What?!" The two of them shouted, as a barrier engulfed the door out and the walls started to shift a bit. All of a sudden, lumps of mud started to form on the wall and shot out at them. Asche and Spiritia evaded them as they kept on coming from the wall, and when Asche deflected a lump, it continued to move forward. This made him turn around and to his shock, a mud golem that looked like a muddy egg with arms and legs was starting to form. He shouted, "Tia! I think we have a bigger problem!"

The lumps stopped coming as Spiritia turned around, only to find that the mud golem was fully formed. Asche tried slashing at it but each slash had no effect, as the slashes faded on the golem's body. Then a red eye opened up on the body and fired two energy beams at Asche and Spiritia. They dodged them and the golem's eye closed right after it was finished, as Asche shouted, "How the heck do we destroy something like that?"

Spiritia couldn't answer him as the golem started to fall apart and change back into lumps of mud. The lumps shot across the room, forcing Asche and Spiritia to get out of the way, with the two of them being pinned against the walls. They watched as the mud golem reformed on the other side of the room and when all of the mud lumps were on the other side, Asche and Spiritia got off of the walls to face it with him saying, "So, how exactly do we defeat it?"

The golem's eye opened up again and it raised a fist, slamming it down on the spot they were standing. Asche was going to block it but Spiritia pulled him out of the way, just as the fist landed, creating a small crater. Spiritia shouted, "I think I know what it's weak spot is!"

"Really?!" Asche shouted, looking at her. Spiritia nodded and she raised her hand shouting, "Liebesstrum!" A downpour appeared out of nowhere and the golem was attacked by the brief storm. The golem covered it's eye with one of it's hands while it lashed out at them with it's other arm. Asche knew what just happened and said, "The eye is it's weak spot isn't it?"

Spiritia looked slightly surprised at that and said, "Of course, everything has a weakness, you taught me and Freu that Asche."

Asche raised an eyebrow and said, "I did? Man, I must be slipping these days."

The golem recovered and it started to turn into lumps of mud again. They tried to get out of the way by reaching the walls but the lumps started to shoot at them every time they tried, so Asche and Spiritia were forced to dodge all the lumps that were being shot to the other side of the room.

One of the lumps hit Spiritia in the side and she yelped in pain. This distracted Asche for a second and another lump hit him in his left leg. He winced but focused on the fight, just as the golem reformed after all the lumps reached the other side of the room. The two recovered from being hit and faced the golem as it's eye opened again. From the eye the golem started firing energy shots at Asche and Spiritia.

As Asche blocked each shot and Spiritia was dodging hers Asche shouted, "Tia, I'll block the mud golem's attacks while you go for it's eye!" Spiritia nodded and replied, "Okay Asche!" Spiritia got behind Asche as he started blocking the golem's energy shots with Schwert Gewehr. She raised her hand again and shouted, "Liebesstrum!"

Another conjured storm was created and it hurt the mud golem pretty badly. Suddenly, Asche went through a gravity flip and ended up on the ceiling, shouting, "What the-?!" He landed on the ceiling with a thud while Spiritia shouted, "Asche!"

Spiritia ended up on the ceiling too a second later as the mud golem degenerated into lumps of mud again. The lumps shot across the room again and Spiritia managed to reorient herself in time to dodge the lumps of mud. Unfortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for Asche, as he was still a bit disoriented and was being slapped around by the lumps of mud that were flying across the room.

Despite being disoriented, Asche did manage to evade a few of them, but got hit most of the time. By the time the golem reformed itself Asche didn't look very good, but being slapped around snapped him out of it as he got angry and shouted, "That's it! I'm going to rip out that eyeball if it's the last thing I do!" With that he subconsciously went into Overdrive mode and dashed over to the mud golem.

Asche started hacking and slashing at the mud golem despite the attacks not having much effect on the mud golem. The mud golem tried to punch him, but Asche blocked it and threw off the fist with Schwert Gewehr, nearly making it lose it's balance.

As Asche was on a rampage, Spiritia was watching the whole thing and she saw that the mud golem was totally focused on Asche. She took that chance to cast another Liebesstrum spell, which affected the golem greatly.

Another gravity flip occurred yet both Asche and Spiritia were unaffected by the sudden change, with Asche too focused to think about anything else. They dodged the lumps of mud that shot across the room without getting hit and the mud golem reformed.

As the eye opened Asche and Spiritia went on the offensive instantly. Spiritia cast Liebesstrum one more time, while Asche threw Schwert Gewehr straight at the mud golem's eye. The two attacks hit the golem at the same time as the storm affected the mud golem's entire body, and Schwert Gewehr pierced right down the middle of the eye.

There was a moment of silence before the mud golem started to turn into dust, with the dust bursting into a purple flame that left nothing. Asche and Spiritia watched the mud golem crumble into nothingness, and Asche noticed that the eye outside the windows doing the same thing, but he didn't care about that.

There was nothing left of the golem, and where it stood only Schwert Gewehr was left lying on the floor. Asche went over to pick it up as Spiritia said, "That was rough, but we're still alive, right you two?"

Lilli nodded while Asche simply said, "…Yeah…"

As Asche sheathed Schwert Gewehr Spiritia saw that Asche was still in Overdrive mode. She asked, "Asche, do you realize that you're in Overdrive mode?"

Asche raised an eyebrow and walked over to one of the nearby windows. He looked at his reflection and saw that his eyes were indeed in his Overdrive state. Asche focused and returned to normal as he replied, "I guess I didn't realize. And I think I can use mana infusion again, since it doesn't hurt anymore."

That's when the pain from being smacked around by the mud lumps came to him and he fell to his knees cringing. Spiritia ran over to his side and said, "Asche! Lilli, could you please?" Lilli came out and said, "Of course Tia!" Lilli went over to Asche and started healing him.

As he was being healed Asche said, "Shoot, I guess being an instructor for six months must've rusted my abilities. I swear I could've handled myself a bit better in battle." Spiritia tried to assure him saying, "Don't worry about it Asche, you're still tough, or else you really wouldn't have survived Iris' attacks back at Castle Zeppelin." A small tear came from Spiritia's eye and she wiped it away before Asche or Lilli could notice.

There was a moment of silence as Lilli finished tending to Asche and she said tiredly, "I've managed to patch him up so he should be fine now."

Asche tested this by getting up and he didn't feel much pain as before. He said, "Thanks Lilli, I think I can manage with this."

They looked around the room and Lilli said, "Okay, now that the golem's been taken care of, where do we go now?" As if to answer her question, a door formed on the other side of the room, and Asche said, "There's a good place to start."

Asche started walking towards the door when suddenly, there was a flash of light and in front of them, were two potion vials with a note attached to them. Asche and Spiritia walked over to the vials and inspected them, with Asche taking the note and read it. It said, 'Asche, Tia, take these. We heard what was going on from your fairy friend that you sent here to Haven. I hope that these will help you, they're healing potions in case something happens. From Freudia.'

Spiritia read the note also and said, "Thank goodness Miraina made it. Back then, I thought that I might've sent her somewhere else other than Haven."

"Hmm? You nearly messed up the teleportation spell? Now that news to me." Asche said with a grin.

"What do you mean by that Asche? It's not my fault that the energies going through the palace were messing with the spell." Spiritia defended.

Asche raised his hands saying, "Whoa Tia, I didn't mean anything by it. Just surprised, that's all." Spiritia calmed down saying, "Let's keep going, we still need to stop Iris, and who knows what that girl will do."

A nod came from Asche as he picked up the vials and gave one of them to Spiritia. The two of them drank it and instantly, they felt better. Asche licked his lips and said, "Freu sure does know how to make one mean potion."

"Yes, she does, doesn't she?" Spiritia said, feeling a lot better after drinking the potion.

The two of them threw the empty vials away and the two of them. The potion's effects were still working on Asche, as there were still some areas that Lilli didn't heal, or she couldn't.

At the door Spiritia tried opening it but found that it was stuck, and saw that it was actually locked. Asche shook his head and said, "Jeez, we find a door only to find that it's locked." He looked over at the other door and saw that the barrier was still up, so the only way out was through this door.

Asche watched as Spiritia struggled with the door, and she even tried a Seelegewehr shot on it, but it only left a burn mark on the door. That's when Asche took out Schwert Gewehr and said, "Mind if I try Tia?"

Spiritia got out of the way and Asche used his swordsmanship skills to slice down the door in half. The door fell apart, revealing a corridor lit with candles. Asche kept Schwert Gewehr in his hand as he said, "Okay, now we can go through." Spiritia smiled at that and the two of them went through the opening, leaving the gardens behind.

In another part of the palace Iris shook her head after she lost contact with the floating eyeball that she sent to watch Asche and Spiritia. She said, "They're getting close. Oh well, might as well start preparing for their arrival. Oh, I really do hope that they make it though, so I can see their faces when I show them the full might of my powers! These commoners do need to be taught that opposing a god is useless, and they will be good examples when I show the world my power."


	16. Iris Zeppelin

Chapter 15 – Iris Zeppelin

"Argh, that bitch Iris is going to get it when I find her!" Asche declared. Despite the two defeating that one-eyed mud golem Asche was still recovering from being smacked around by all those pieces of hardened mud when the golem went from one side of the room to the other. Not to mention that it didn't help when the gravity distortion kicked in and they found themselves switching between the roof and floor of the room.

Now the pain Asche numbed during the fight was catching up to him, and it was obvious to anyone watching that it wasn't a pleasant sight. Both Asche and Spiritia knew that it was mainly due to use of is Overdrive ability during the fight that caused the backlashes of pain, and Asche tried to keep the screaming down to a minimum as they kept going.

The two went on though the corridors until they found a room with a hole in the ground. Asche looked down and saw that it was a blue tunnel that looked like it went down quite a bit. He looked at Spiritia and asked, "So, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be Asche." Spiritia replied. Asche nodded and said, "Okay, then let's go!" The two of them jumped down the hole and braced themselves. As they fell, they saw a bunch of monsters that they past, surprising them as they fell.

Eventually they reached the bottom and the two landed without breaking anything, and Asche took care of an Eggmet that had been laying in wait to ambush them. They kept on moving and Lilli couldn't help but feel the tense atmosphere between Asche and Spiritia. She understood though, since they were about to go up against the reincarnation of Rosenkreuz, powers and all.

The two ran through a couple of corridors until they came across what looked like a teleportation capsule, something they haven't seen for a few years, since they were prototypes to the teleportation spell that didn't work out. Since they didn't have a choice, Asche and Spiritia went into the capsule, and were teleported somewhere else.

A moment later, they appeared in another room that had a hole in the middle. By instinct, Asche jumped through the hole, with Spiritia going after. The two of them ended up in a dark room with Lilli saying, "Hunya, it's too dark in here!"

Suddenly, candles lit up, revealing the entire room. On the floor was a giant magic circle, with a smaller one in the center of it. There was writing on it that Asche couldn't make out and that's when he noticed eight capsules in the room. Spiritia was inspecting one of them when she saw the inscription, 'RKS 002' on it. She said, "That's Freu's call sign. Asche, what does this mean?"

"If I had to take a wild guess, Iris has golems of our friends waiting for us. These teleportation capsules probably each lead to a room where they are being kept." Asche looked at her and asked, "Tia, I need to ask you, will you be able to destroy the golems while they have our friends' images on them?"

Spiritia was silent for a bit, until she replied firmly, "Yes Asche, I must, if we are to reach Iris." Asche smiled at that response and said, "That's good." He looked at each of the capsules and said, "How about this, I take numbers 002 to 005 while you take the others?"

"I think I can manage." Spiritia said. Asche nodded and said, "Okay then. Let's do this."

Asche watched as Spiritia went over to the capsule that had 'RKS 006' on it and thought, 'Her first opponent is a Grolla golem. Then again mine's going to be another Freudia golem.' Asche sighed and walked into the capsule, and was teleported into one of the rooms.

* * *

Asche stepped out of the capsule after he was teleported and saw a golem standing at the other end of the room. In a flash of light the golem turned into a replica of Freudia and Asche thought, 'I won't hesitate this time.' Instantly, the golem started firing off Freudenstachel at Asche, which he dodged with ease.

The golem shot an Eislanze spell at Asche which he narrowly avoided, with part of Schwert Gewehr encrusted in ice. A surge of mana shattered the ice and Asche dashed forward to the golem. It was about use Freudenstachel again when Asche used the hilt of his sword to knock the golem back, which caught it off guard.

There was a swift sound and Asche stabbed the golem right through the chest. A few seconds passed by before the golem abruptly crumbled and turned to dust. Asche gave Schwert Gewehr a wave before he went back to the capsule and teleported out of the room, feeling a bit ill despite his resolve.

* * *

The next room he teleported into was the one that had the Zorne golem. He mentally prepared himself as he saw the golem form Zorne's image and prepared itself to fight.

The golem started throwing bombs, one after another at him, and Asche managed to get out of the way when they exploded. The explosions left him a bit singed but he was fine, and started to make his way up to the Zorne golem. It stopped throwing bombs and prepared itself for hand to hand combat.

Asche smirked since he knew that he outclassed Zorne in hand-to-hand combat, even though the gauntlet had claws that were quite sharp. The golem tried swiping him with the gauntlet and Asche just blocked it with the back of Schwert Gewehr. Then he suddenly punched the golem in the stomach and pushed the gauntlet off. The turn of events left the golem wide open as Asche slashed the golem right in half.

Asche turned around as the golem turned into dust, not wanting to watch what was happening. He walked over to the teleportation capsule and was brought back to the main room. He quickly went over to the next one that led to Trauare's golem, thinking, 'What's the point of all this?'

* * *

In the next room, Asche and the Trauare golem were fighting in close quarters, as the golem blocked another one of Asche's strikes with it's spear. Just like the other golem he fought back at the Sanctum of the Siren, this golem was pulling out all the stops, combining it's spear attacks with Klageharnisch spells.

Asche dodged when the golem spun it's spear, causing whirlpools to appear and were shot at Asche. He instantly went back on the offensive but had a hard time getting past the golem's defenses. That's when Asche got hit in the side by pole of the golem's spear, causing him to wince, which nearly cost him his life if it were not for Schwert Gewehr being in a spot where the golem tried to slice into him with the spear's head. The sword blocked the attack and Asche put his strength into blocking it.

They were trapped in a lock for a moment before Asche grabbed the pole of the spear and pulled on it. Thanks to the mana infusion boosting his strength he managed to yank the spear out of the golem's hands he kicked it in the legs, causing it to slip in fall.

The golem landed on the floor with a thud and before it had the chance to get up, Asche stabbed the spear straight through it. By the time the golem turned to dust, Asche was already out of the room, heading for the next one.

* * *

Asche was busy dodging all the Lustatem shots the Luste golem was firing at him. He didn't know whether to be thankful or cursing the fact that the golems take on all the attributes of the person they're modeled after. On one hand, the Luste golem considered their fight to be just playing, but on the other hand, the golem was firing shots like crazy, with a happy look on it's face.

He also tried getting close to it, but every time he did, the golem would jump over him and fire off a charged Lustatem shot. Asche decided to change tactics and he switched Schwert Gewehr into it's gun form and started firing off Lustatem shots of his own. It seemed to be working as his shots were getting accurate and were starting to take their toll on the golem.

Eventually one of Asche's shots hit the golem pretty hard, which made it disoriented. Asche took that chance to change Schwert Gewehr back and he threw his sword right at the golem. He closed his eyes as he heard a stabbing sound, and a moment later, the sound of Schwert Gewehr falling to the ground.

When Asche opened his eyes there was no trace left of the golem, only Schwert Gewehr was lying where the golem used to be. He went over and picked it up thinking, 'Good thing I kept my eyes shut, or I might've gagged at the sight.' Asche sighed at that thought as he walked over to the capsule and was teleported out of the room.

* * *

Back in the room with the eight capsules, Asche saw that all of the capsules, except the one that led to the Schwer-Muta golem, were inactive. Asche stretched and said, "Well, might as well wait for her."

It didn't take long however, as Spiritia came out of the capsule looking a bit worn. She saw Asche standing nearby and she went over to where he was. Asche saw her coming to him and said, "Looks like you held up your end pretty well."

"Ha…I think I can understand how you felt back then with Freu, Asche. But it had to be done, and at the very least those things really weren't our friends, right?" Spiritia said. Asche just nodded as he watched Spiritia catch her breath.

A moment later, there was a flash of light and another capsule appeared in the middle of the room. Asche looked at it but found no visible markings on it. He said, "This one better lead to Iris. I had enough of running around like a headless chicken!"

Spiritia watched Asche rant and hoped that it really lead to Iris and not some sort of trap. She grabbed his hand and the two of them entered the capsule. Spiritia let go of Asche's hand as it started to glow and they vanished in a flash.

* * *

Asche and Spiritia were teleported to a room that looked like a giant stage where they saw Iris standing there waiting for them with an amused look on her face. Instantly Spiritia shouted, "Iris!" with Lilli adding, "You're going to pay!" That made Asche think, 'Those two are sure riled up.'

"I've been waiting. Quite frankly, I didn't think that the two of you would come all this way to die. Or is it that you want me to finish the job that I started back at that castle?" Iris specifically looked at Asche when she said that last part.

It got Spiritia angry as she shouted, "Iris, I'll never forgive you, especially for what you did to Asche!"

Iris laughed and said, "You think run-of-the-mill Magi like yourselves can stand against me, Rosenkreuz reborn?" She shook her head and said, "This is why I can't stand commoners…

"I have transcended humanity. I, Iris Zeppelin, have become a God! Worthless insects like yourselves can't hope to stop me." Iris sneered. Asche pointed Schwert Gewehr and said, "You're pathetic Iris, thinking that you're better than everyone else, just because you have more power than others. You have no right treating others the way you want to!"

Iris scoffed at them and said, "Pah! The world is no more than my personal toy. What's wrong with treating my toys however I wish?"

"We are not toys! We all have our fair share of hardships…and our own hopes and dreams. We try to make the most of our lives! And you have no right to toy around with them!" Spiritia shouted at her.

Iris was about to say something when everyone heard Asche laughing. Iris asked, "What's so funny?"

Asche stopped laughing and said, "It just that you call yourself a God, but you refer everything as toys. When I look at you, I don't see a god, just a spoiled child! A spoiled child that thinks the world revolves around her and her inflated ego!"

Iris got quite angry at that, but she managed to hide it saying, "The two of you certainly have big mouths. You two still don't understand the meaning of true power, I see. In that case, I'll enjoy beating it into the two of you until you've drawn your very last breaths!"

Suddenly there was a flash of light as the red curtain beside them vanished. Asche, Spiritia, and Lilli shielded their eyes from the light and when it faded, they saw something that shocked them.

There was a round, giant golden machine with a mouth that had sharp, bloody teeth. They also saw that the machine was encased in rocks which the spiked ones looked quite bloody. Asche whispered, "Is that supposed to intimidate us?"

Spiritia looked at him with a raised eyebrow while Lilli quietly said, "That looks plenty scary to me Asche!"

Then they saw a pair of magic circles appear, just as they heard Iris say from inside of the machine, "Now, it's time to show you the true meaning of power!" Suddenly the machine started spitting out giant purple orbs of energy from the mouth, just as the magic circles started to move as well. Asche and Spiritia immediately started to move so that they wouldn't get hit by the giant orbs.

They were lucky that the orbs weren't very accurate, but the sheer size of them made them worry. They also thought on how the heck they were supposed to damage the machine as they dove close to it, since the orbs had a limited range, not to mention the machine was hovering high enough so that they would be able to get under it.

Once they were out of the line of fire Asche said, "You have any idea how to damage this thing? 'Cause I don't have much of a clue."

Spiritia was about to answer when the magic circles were on them and they glowed. The two got out of the way as lightning bolts shot out between the two circles. Spiritia said, "Looks like those circles were more than just for show."

"No kidding, looks like they follow us wherever we go. As for damaging it, maybe using bombs would work." Asche said. Spiritia liked that idea and said, "We'll try that."

The two of them dove back into the barrage of orbs with Asche saying, "We won't just try, we'll succeed Tia!" The two went back to dodging the orbs while throwing bombs at the machine.

A couple of bombs later the rock shell of the machine started to have a number of cracks in it and Asche prepared to fire off another bomb from Schwert Gewehr. He nearly got skinned by an orb in the process as he fired it off shouting, "This is it!" The bomb he fired off hit the rock shell and the entire rock shell and teeth crumbled off of the machine, revealing what was underneath it.

Asche and Spiritia saw Iris sitting in the machine's cockpit as well as the changes to the machine, like the red orb that was underneath the cockpit and the two floating arms that detached from the machine. Iris laughed at them and said, "Hahaha, did you think you could beat me that easily?! What pathetic fools, I'll show you that it's pointless to resist!"

The barrage continued and both Asche and Spiritia continued to dodge the orbs, as well as the magic circles that fired lightning every now and again. Asche was busy looking for the machine's weak spot while Spiritia was busy firing charged Seelegewehr shots blindly at the machine, hoping to stop it. Most of the shots bounced off the machine's armor as Iris said, "Give it up Tia, this machine's armor is resistant to all magical attacks."

Suddenly one of Spiritia's shots hit the red orb that was under the cockpit and the machine gave a small jerk. Asche saw that and he fired of Freudenstachel at the red orb, and saw that the shots hit even though they shattered.

Asche changed tactics while Spiritia was firing charged shots at the orb, and due to constantly moving to avoid the giant orbs half of those shots missed. That's when Asche jumped and delivered a blast of mana to the orb, which shook up the machine quite a bit.

Iris nearly fell over and said, "My, that's a surprise. I didn't think that you insects would be able to shake the machine. But still, you won't be able to win, that's for sure!"

"We'll see about that you brat…" Asche whispered as he fell back, just as one of the floating arms came after him, and spikes jutted out from one end that was pointed at him. He quickly jumped out of the way as the arm smashed into the wall behind him. It went back to it's previous position and Asche went back to dodging the orbs.

Evading the orbs was starting to wear Asche and Spiritia down, and the two had more than their fair share of close shaves with the orbs and lightning circles. However, the hits the orb has taken seemed to make the machine start to malfunction as there were some pauses in the barrage and one of the arms suddenly went dead. Iris was a bit surprised at that but didn't care, as she was still confident that Asche and Spiritia would fall.

Asche tried firing another bomb but found that he couldn't properly focus on the spell at the moment. So he decided to use Lustatem and fired at the orb with Spiritia, but had to dodge when the remaining arm came rushing at him. Spiritia wanted to see if Asche was alright, but she couldn't lose focus for just one second, as that would mean her death. So she continued to fire charged shots at the orb, despite her starting to lose her accuracy.

The red orb started to show some cracks in it and the machine itself was looking like it was jerking around every now and again. Iris was oblivious to those facts due to her overconfidence in the machine's abilities. Spiritia's aim was starting to go bad and she felt tired, while Asche had gone into Overdrive mode in order to stay standing.

Asche saw that Spiritia was starting to get tired and thought of a way to restore some of her energy, by infusing mana into her. He wasn't sure if it would work since the only things he infused mana with were inanimate objects like weapons, he never tried it on anything living, let alone a live human being. He thought, 'It might not work but in this situation, anything will do!"

He made his way over to Spiritia, who just barely avoided one of the purple orbs. Asche sliced an orb that was coming for them in half as he quickly said, "Tia, give me your hand!"

Since they were in the heat of battle, Spiritia grabbed Asche's hand without comment. As he sliced another orb in half using Grollschwert, Asche infused a small amount of mana into Spiritia. She felt weird at first before she felt like her strength was starting to come back to her. Asche quickly let got of Spiritia's hand as the magic circles were over them and they moved out of the way, just as the lightning bolts fired.

Now that Spiritia had some of her strength back she started firing at the orb with better accuracy, while Asche thought of a way to distract Iris. He jumped into the air and swung down Schwert Gewehr, releasing an energy blast that hit one of the purple energy orbs. This caused the orb to bounce back and hit the cockpit that Iris was in. It exploded and when the dust cleared, they saw that Iris looked a bit disoriented, yet the cockpit itself was unharmed. The entire machine stopped for a second and Spiritia took that chance to fire one last charged Seelegewehr shot at the red orb, and it hit it, causing the orb to shatter.

With the last hit to the red orb, the machine started to shake and various explosions erupted all over the machine. Then there was one last explosion before the entire area was bathed in a bright light, which forced Asche and Spiritia to cover their eyes.

When the light faded, they saw that Iris was inside her flying capsule, completely unharmed. She apparently, was shocked that her machine was beaten and said, "Impossible, where did all that energy come from?!" She spat and said, "Tch, I'll back off for now."

With that she fired a lightning bolt through the roof and fled through the hole she made, making Lilli shout, "Hey, wait!"

It was too late as Iris was already long gone and both Asche and Spiritia collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. As Asche's Overdrive mode faded, he slowly got up and looked at the hole Iris made, and he saw something in the sky that he couldn't quite make out. Spiritia coughed a bit before she got up too saying, "Where did Iris go?"

"I'm not sure, but she probably didn't go far. That machine probably took a lot out of her, and us beating it was most likely something she wasn't expecting." Asche said. He looked around and saw a door that was behind a part of the destroyed machine. He made his way over and cleared the debris off of it, and opened the door, revealing a spiral staircase that went upwards.

Asche slumped on the nearby wall, still feeling quite exhausted. He watched as Spiritia walked over to where he was, slumped and tilting left and right as she walked. Asche looked around the room, seeing the scrap metal that used to be the machine that they fought against, until he noticed something shining in one of the piles of rubble. Walking over, he inspected the rubble and cleared away portions of it.

What he saw surprised him, which was two crystals glowing a golden color attached to a plate of metal. Asche shouted, "Hey Tia, get over here!"

"…What is it Asche?" Spiritia asked tiredly. She went over and saw Asche grab a golden crystal. It flashed for a bit until it became clear and crumbled a moment later. Asche urged her, "Tia, take that one." He pointed to the crystal that was still in the plate of metal. Spiritia managed to get it out and she felt her strength returning to her as the crystal pulsed. She felt like that battle never happened as the crystal's color cleared and it too shattered. Spiritia asked, "What were those things."

"I'm not sure, all I know is that they replenish energy. Wonder what Iris was using them for." Asche replied. Spiritia said, "It felt like the time I took your hand. What was that anyway Asche?"

"I just infused some mana into you." Asche replied, "You looked like you were going to collapse back there."

"I see…" Spiritia said. Lilli popped out saying, "Hey, are we going to just sit here, or are we going to go after Iris?"

Asche and Spiritia looked at each other and nodded, with Spiritia saying, "You're right Lilli, we need to go after Iris right now. Let's hurry Asche."

Spiritia and Lilli went through the door and up the staircase with Asche saying, "Jeez, someone's eager…" He shook his head and smirked as he followed Spiritia.

As they went up the stairs Asche thought, 'I hope this is going to be the final confrontation. Since his power is controlling her there's really not much choice except death here…' He sighed as he followed Spiritia up the staircase, a bit lost in his thoughts.


	17. The Two Blades of the Rose Cross

Chapter 16 – The Two Blades of the Rose Cross

Iris managed to escape after suffering defeated at the hands of Asche and Spiritia and the two worked their way up to the roof of the palace. At the top they saw some kind of floating building in the sky above the palace. Asche said, "How the heck are we going to get up there? I don't think you have enough energy to use Silberflugel Eins to get up there Tia."

"We'll find a way somehow." Spiritia told him, "Let's just look up ahead." The two encountered very little resistance, only an Eggmet and two Shield Eggmets. Asche commented, "Iris didn't think very much of guards, now did she?"

Spiritia ignored him as the two of them made their way along the roof and kept going as they reached the middle of the palace, at the very top of the central tower. That's when he noticed a hole that led to a floor below and wondered, "Wonder where this hole leads to?"

Again, Spiritia ignored him and she jumped right down the hole. Asche followed her shouting, "Hey, wait up!"

Asche had landed right beside Spiritia and they noticed that they were standing on top of a dragon. Spiritia looked at it and said, "Wait a minute… Is this…?"

"Ah! He's the dragon from before!" Lilli shouted, recognizing the dragon too. Asche looked around as she said, "…It doesn't look like he can move right now…"

"Yeah…" Spiritia said absentmindedly, while Asche was now inspecting the two metal rods that were pinning the dragon. Lilli sighed and held her hand to her chest saying, "That was as surprise… Well, at the very least we won't have to fight him."

A small whine came from the dragon as Asche said, "Tia did you hear that…?" Spiritia looked at the dragon and replied, "Yes…he looks like he's in pain."

Lilli looked at the two of them as she said, "…Tia, Asche?" Spiritia gave Asche a certain look and he nodded in agreement. Then Spiritia said, "We're going to help him."

"What, are you two nuts?! What if he attacks us again?!" Lilli shouted, looking at the two of them as if they were crazy. Spiritia assured her, "He won't hurt us. I don't know why, but I'm positive of it, right Asche?"

"Uh-huh." Asche replied. Lilli still looked a bit skeptical as she said, "…If you say so Tia. But are you really sure about this?" Asche replied, "Quite sure Lilli. Now all we need to do is destroy those two orbs. They must be the ones that hold the seal in place."

Asche took out Schwert Gewehr as Spiritia started to gather mana into her hands. Both of them turned their backs to each other, facing the iron pillars that each had a red orb on top. Asche swung down Schwert Gewehr releasing the energy he stored into it, while Spiritia fired off a stronger than usual charged Seelegewehr shot.

Both attacks hit the orbs and they shattered, causing the pillars that pinned the dragon to disappear and the floor to crumble. Asche and Spiritia nearly lost their footing until the dragon managed to flap it's wings and remain airborne.

A shout came from Lilli while Spiritia calmed her down saying, "It's alright. He's not dangerous." Asche raised and eyebrow while Lilli said, "…Y-yeah… I'll try talking to him." As Lilli flew over to the dragon's face Asche said, "You sure sound sure of yourself."

Spiritia smiled at him and said, "Call it women's intuition."

Asche had to stifle a laugh as Lilli came back up to them saying, "Okay… His name is Talos. He wants to thank the two of you for setting him free." Spiritia smiled at her and said, "I can sort of understand what he wants to say…"

Some sort of noise came from Talos and Lilli said, "Umm… He says that he'll take us to the one with the crimson eyes… Maybe he's talking about Iris?"

"Unless there's someone else with that eye color running around, it must be her." Asche said with a slight sneer.

Spiritia slapped Asche in the back of the head while saying, "Never mind him… Thank you Talos, lead the way."

Talos made another noise and Lilli said, " 'Leave it to me', he says." That's when Talos started to fly upwards, and both Asche and Spiritia had to hold on to Talos' neck, so they won't fall off due to the strong winds.

Eventually they reached the floating building, which mostly consisted of a large platform surrounded by a ring of pillars. Talos landed on top of a platform that led to a door which separated the small platform to the main one. Asche shook his head at it while Spiritia got off of Talos, thinking, 'You'd think the door would be unnecessary.'

Asche got off Talos also as Spiritia went over to inspect the door. He was about to follow her when the thought of something and said, "Talos, I need to tell you something."

Talos understood Asche and the dragon lowered his head and Asche whispered something at Talos. After Asche was done Talos gave a snort and a nod, showing that he understood as Spiritia noticed what Asche was doing. She called out to him, "Asche, let's hurry."

"Okay." Asche took one last look at Talos before he went after Spiritia, as she opened the door. The two went through and the door closed itself after, and a barrier was erected on it. They saw Iris waiting in her pod as Spiritia shouted, "We've finally caught you Iris!"

However, Iris looked a bit curious as she said, "…So you managed to break the seal on the dragon, huh? It's just as I suspected…"

"So that was you huh?" Lilli said. Asche drew Schwert Gewehr as Spiritia shouted, "You're not getting away this time!" All of a sudden, Iris started laughing like crazy which shocked the three of them. They wondered what was wrong with her as Iris said, "Ah, I think I get it now! So that's what's going on! AHAHAHAHA!"

"What's wrong with her?" Lilli asked. Asche replied, "I bet you that she's finally went off the deep end." Then Spiritia demanded, "Iris, have you lost your mind?!"

That's when Iris stopped laughing and explained, "I inherited Rosenkreuz's immense magical powers and all the knowledge he gained over the course of his life, not to mention his memories too, just a few days ago. That's more than qualified me to take my rightful place at the pinnacle of this world." At that Asche couldn't help but give a small laugh at that as she went on, "But there was something I didn't inherit. The thing that defined him most as individual: his ability to tap into the strength of others."

Spiritia looked confused at that while Asche narrowed his eyes. Iris noticed the look on Spiritia's face and said, "Spiritia, you've gained quite a few new abilities in such a short while, haven't you? I was quite a fool to let that go unnoticed. You are his other incarnation, the 'Blade of Rosenkreuz'."

Lilli was quite surprised at that saying, "…What?"

Asche was a bit surprised too, but he managed to hide it as Spiritia was shocked by the news, saying, "I'm Rosenkreuz's…?"

Iris started laughing again as she said, "Even with all this brainpower, I couldn't recognize that you were the missing piece… I may have inherited his wisdom and power, but what I've been searching for – his spirit – resides within you." She smirked as she said, "Fancy that, Spiritia."

Spiritia was silent, still confused by the turn of events. Asche was starting to get worried about her as Iris rambled, "I think I might just start believing in fate now. Ahh, the feeling of hating another with every fiber of your being…it's such an amazing rush…! Oh, I'm so anxious to rip you apart!"

Iris sneered at Spiritia saying, "What about you? You have the power of the world's finest magician coursing though your veins. How does it feel? Exhilarating? Intoxicating? Exuberant? Or perhaps such a tiny vessel can't fully comprehend the magnificence of it all?" Asche thought, 'She's one to talk about being a tiny vessel…'

That's when Lilli stuck up for Spiritia saying, "Tia will always be Tia! So there!" Asche smirked at that and added, "The fairy's right! No matter what you say Tia will always be the same Spiritia that the two of us know and love!"

Iris snorted in disgust as Spiritia felt better thanks to their words as she said, "Thanks, Lilli, Asche."

She turned to Iris with a serious look on her face as she said, "I don't really know if I possess Rosenkreuz's spirit…or if I'm his other incarnation or whatnot…or even if I really inherited his 'ability to tap into the strength of others'… But none of that matters when it comes to magic. Freu… Zorne… Trau… Luste… Grolla… Sichte… Liebea… Schwer… Lilli… and Asche… It's because they support me that I have the will to fight. They are the source of my strength. That much I know for sure!"

Iris scoffed at her and said, "How touching. However, there is something that's been bothering me for awhile. That sword of yours Asche, Schwert Gewehr, I noticed that it has similar, if not the same powers as Spiritia over there. I wonder where you got such a powerful weapon."

Asche laughed and said, "Well, I'm not surprised that you don't know. He did erase all his memories of the sword." Now everyone there was confused by what he said as Asche addressed Iris, "You say you have all of Rosenkreuz memories and knowledge correct? I must ask: Does the name 'Annalia' mean anything to you?"

Iris thought about it, and after a moment of thinking she recognized the name. Spiritia and Lilli wondered where Asche was going with this when Iris said, "But that Rosenkreuz's… How do you know that name?!"

"I see that you do recognize it. You see, Schwert Gewehr came from my mother's side of my family, and this weapon is what I inherited from her, which she inherited from her father." At that Iris' eyes widened and Asche said, "Why don't you tell Tia and Lilli here what you're so shocked about Iris?"

Iris was silent for a bit before she said, "Annalia was Rosenkreuz's only daughter…" This shocked Spiritia and Lilli as Spiritia said, "Then that means…?!"

Asche sighed and said, "Yes, my mother's maiden name was Annalia Stilette, the only daughter of Rosenkreuz Stilette! Rosenkreuz was actually my biological grandfather." This new bit of news threw Iris off guard, and shocked both Spiritia and Iris greatly. Asche decided to add, "Schwert Gewehr is a sword that he created, and infused part of his own spirit into the sword, which is why it has nearly the same properties as Tia's powers. Honestly I didn't know that until Iris explained the whole incarnation deal just now."

Iris shouted, "But that's impossible, Rosenkreuz was alive thousands of years ago, how can you…" She trailed off there when she said, "Unless…"

"It seems that Rosenkreuz's memories are starting to come back to you." Asche said with a smug look. Spiritia, meanwhile, looked confused and asked, "Asche, what are you talking about?"

"Since Miss I'm Too Powerful over there seems to be in a state of shock, I'll tell you Tia." Asche replied, "After my mother died, I trained with Grandpa until the age of ten. Before he died, he gave me a letter that my mother wrote to me, and it told me everything, especially about how Rosenkreuz used a powerful Time Slip spell to send her to the future for her safety, before he went off to face the Church."

That's when Iris started to laugh again and said, "My, this just gets more and more amusing, doesn't it? The other incarnation, along with the grandson of Rosenkreuz standing here before me. I must admit Asche; you hid that fact from us quite well. I doubt even the old man knew about it either."

Spiritia however, looked at Asche in the eyes and asked, "Asche, is that really true?"

Asche smiled at her and said, "It's true Tia, sorry I didn't say anything. But if the church found out that I was Rosenkreuz's descendant, his blood relative nonetheless, the Count probably would've offered me up to the church to keep the peace, even though I'm magically inept."

That's when Iris interrupted saying, "That's right, you are a shame to your family heritage Asche. I might as well put you out of your misery right now!" A magic circle formed in front of Iris' pod and was aimed right at Asche, and before either he or Spiritia knew it, a blast of lightning bolts shot out of the circle, all aimed at Asche.

Asche had no time to dodge and he braced himself as Spiritia shouted, "Asche!" Iris laughed and said, "Hahaha, what a fitting end for a failure like him. Now we should-!" She suddenly stopped as the dust cleared, and to their surprise, Asche was still standing their, holding Schwert Gewehr in a protective stance. Iris was totally shocked and shouted, "How the heck are you still standing?!"

Spiritia was shocked as well and when Asche didn't move, she called out to him, "Asche?"

Asche turned his head towards her and saw that there was something different about him, like how his eyes had turned a different color. His left eye was crimson red, while his right was emerald green, the same colors as her and Iris' eyes. She was about to say something when Asche spoke in a voice that was quite not his, "Asche? Oh, you must mean this body. Sorry dear, but he's not here at the moment?"

Iris narrowed her eyes and asked, "Just who the heck are you supposed to be?"

'Asche' shook his head and said, "My, what an awful tongue you have. But I guess it can't be helped." He swung Schwert Gewehr onto his shoulders and said, "The name's Rosenkreuz, or more accurately, his memory that's stored within Schwert Gewehr."

Everyone there was taken aback by that as Iris said, "No way, that's just not possible…" Rosenkreuz smiled and said with a wave of his hand, "Believe me; I didn't think it was possible either, but I suppose there are things that are unexplainable, huh?"

Iris was a bit out of it, still having a hard time believing that, despite being only a memory possessing Asche's body, it was Rosenkreuz standing there before them. Spiritia had a hard time believing it as well, while Lilli snapped out of it and asked, "If you're really Rosenkreuz, what happened to Asche?"

Rosenkreuz thought about it for a bit before he replied, "I think I can feel his consciousness being suppressed by 'me'. All I can say is that he's still there, but unconscious." Spiritia sighed at that and thought, 'Whew, at least he's alright.'

Meanwhile Iris was still trying to wrap her head around the situation and had a hard time fathoming it. Then she said, "No, he's dead, and I'm the only one that inherited his power!" Rosenkreuz looked at her and said, "So, she's my reincarnation…" He looked at Spiritia too and said, "And I see that you're the same, except you have the spirit in you. I always wondered what my reincarnation would look like, but I never would've thought that they would be beautiful young girls."

Spiritia blushed at that, while Iris said, "Pah, whatever, it's just a memory. I'll take care of it and Asche in one shot." Another circle formed in front of the pod and it fired off another volley of lightning bolts. Rosenkreuz spun into action just seconds before and pointed Schwert Gewehr at the pod, with the same circle forming at the tip. The same volley of lightning bolts came out of it and collided with Iris' spell, canceling each other out.

Iris was more than shocked to see her own spell being canceled from the last person she expected. She shouted, "How is that even possible?! Even if you're just a memory, you can't do something like that! Asche can't cast even one spell by himself, even with Schwert Gewehr!"

Rosenkreuz looked surprised at that and said, "He can't? Well that's just strange, something must've happened. I wonder if it had to do with that event with Annalia…"

As Iris continued to fume Rosenkreuz stumbled a bit, and Spiritia went over to his side saying, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Miss Spiritia." Rosenkreuz said. Spiritia looked surprised when he said her name and he explained, "Asche poured some of his memories into Schwert Gewehr subconsciously. That's how I know your name, and hers too." He shook his head and said, "I guess time's running out, since Asche's starting to awake. At least I'm glad to see that my grandson is doing well, even if I'm just a mere memory."

Rosenkreuz looked at her and said, "I can see that girl has gone astray do to my power. Please stop her before something bad happens."

"…I will sir." Spiritia said firmly. Rosenkreuz smiled and said as his voice started to get softer, "I'm glad the son of my daughter has friends like you."

That's when his head slumped a bit and his eyes closed. Iris watched, curious at what was going on, until Asche came back, and they saw that his eyes were back to normal. He looked around a bit confused and said, "Wha-? What happened?"

Spiritia told him, "It's nothing Asche." Then Iris said, "It wasn't nothing Spiritia, it was Rosenkreuz memory that possessed him. Who knew that sword of his possessed his memories like I do."

Asche raised an eyebrow at that, but ignored it and pointed Schwert Gewehr at her saying, "I really don't care about all that stuff right now. Right now is the time to beat you down Iris!"

"Ahahaha…really now. Since that sword also has Rosenkreuz's 'spirit' within it, I'll just kill you and Spiritia and claim it as my own. Then it will make me complete as a God!" Asche dashed forward and jumped into the air shouting, "In your dreams you brat!"

Asche tried slash at Iris' pod but it vanished with her saying, "Ahahaha, how foolish. You two should just join Rosenkreuz in the afterlife!"

All of a sudden, the entire platform started to vanish, with only the pillars and edges remaining visible. Asche suddenly felt nauseous until the gem in Schwert Gewehr glowed and he felt the feeling go away. Spiritia looked around and saw the pod appear in front of them, with some distance separating them. Iris taunted, "Aren't you supposed to 'beat me down'? If that's your best, than I might as well kill you now."

"Iris, I swear we'll stop you right here and now!" Spiritia declared. Then she fired off a blast of energy at Iris, which the pod vanished like it did before and it appeared beneath them. Suddenly the familiar magic circle appeared and a volley of lightning bolts fired off at them, forcing Asche and Spiritia to jump out of the way.

Before either of them could get a clear shot at the pod, it disappeared again and Asche couldn't help but whisper, "Shit, something else that teleports like crazy. I guess the apple really doesn't fall that far from the tree."

If it was any other situation, Spiritia would've laughed at that, but Iris appeared above them and fired a barrage of energy orbs down upon them in a spreading fashion. Asche and Spiritia both used Geisterwand to block the incoming orbs that were heading right for them, and the mace barriers blocked the orbs on contact. Asche immediately jumped and swung Schwert Gewehr at the pod, sending what maces he had left right at it. They bounced off the pod, leaving a few dents as it faded out again.

The pod reappeared behind them and Iris tried to catch them off guard by firing a volley of lightning bolts at their backs. Fortunately the two whipped around and managed to dodge the barrage in time as Spiritia fired her own shot at the pod, which managed to hit before it vanished.

The trade of attacks went on for a while, and the pod started to look beaten and worn, with a few slash marks, dents, and burns covering most of it. Asche had a few burns on his arms and legs, while Spiritia also had a few burns on her skirt, and swore that the tip of her ponytail got burnt by one of Iris' lightning attacks. Other than that they were still able to fight as Asche thought, 'That's weird…? Despite the intensity of those attacks, they weren't very consistent. Heck, the fight with that machine was harder than this.'

Spiritia looked at the pod as they heard Iris say, "Ha, figures that this thing wouldn't work. Oh well, I have other ways to deal with you insects."

Then the entire scene started to change and they felt like the entire platform was being elevated very quickly, until they could see the sun quite clearly overheard. Asche felt that it had to be some kind of illusion, when three circles appeared in the air. A moment later Iris reappeared in the sky, this time having six golden wings attached to her back, making her look like a seraph flying in the sky."

Spiritia and Asche looked at her and Asche nearly laughed and said, "Ahem, is that supposed to scare us Iris. It doesn't matter how much you try and look like an angel that you think you are, your heart is no different than a devil's."

"Hmph, as usual you show the grace of a rabid wolf. Let me show you true power!" Iris raised her hands and all of a sudden, an eclipse overcame the sun, and an intense beam of light shot out from Iris.

As Iris disappeared laughing, Asche and Spiritia watched as the beam of light bounced off one of the magic circles onto another one. That circle bounced off the beam again and was aimed at the two of them, which forced the two to split apart. That didn't end it as the beam was reflected off the last circle, which happened to be aimed at Asche. He jumped out of the way, but his left pant leg was burned by the beam, making him shout, "Ack, that burns!"

Then Iris reappeared and taunted something that neither Asche or Spiritia could make out, because at that moment, four magic circle appeared around Iris and lighting bolts came out from them, raining down on the platform. Asche and Spiritia had to run around a bit as the lighting bolts that Iris fired were doing a sweeping motion around the platform. Asche quickly switched Schwert Gewehr into it's gun form started to fire Lustatem shots blindly at the source of the lightning bolts, hoping he'd hit Iris.

Most of the Lustatem shots missed or were incinerated by the lightning bolts, but one of them managed to cut Iris in the leg, which made her stop the barrage and she winced in pain shouting, "Agh, you insect, how dare you hit me!"

"Oh, like you're one to talk!" Asche spat back. Iris just looked at him with disgust before she faded out, leaving a magic circle were she used to be. Then she reappeared again, and she said, "Well, it's time to give you a lightning shower!"

Then she raised one of her hands, and both Asche and Spiritia saw electricity flow through the air for a moment, before lightning rained down upon the platform. Luckily for the two of them, they were in safe spots where the lightning didn't hit, though Spiritia felt a jolt hit her butt and she yelped in surprise.

Spiritia had a charged mana shot in her hands and when the jolt hit her, she accidentally released it into the air, just as the lightning shower ended. As luck would have it, the shot hit Iris right in the back, making her cough at the hit. She looked around and shouted, "Where did that come from?!"

Iris didn't bother to look as Asche watched Spiritia rub her butt and couldn't help but stifle a small laugh. He went back to being serious as Iris faded out, leaving another circle behind, only to reappear below them a moment later. She laughed and raised her hands forward, firing a whole bunch of green energy orbs at them in a spread-like fashion. Spiritia shot down the ones aimed at her with a volley of Freudenstachel, as Asche swept away the ones aimed at him with Schwert Gewehr.

They couldn't get a hit on Iris this time and she faded out, leaving one last circle. Again Iris reappeared and another eclipse happened to the sun, with her saying, "Let's try this again, shall we?" Asche fired a volley of Freudenstachel shots at her the moment Iris finished talking, forcing her to dodge each icicle. She even fired some orbs at some of the icicles saying, "You think that lame spell of Freudia's will work on me? Think again!"

That seemed to make both Asche and Spiritia angry and the two started to press on with their attacks. Spiritia used her own Freudenstachel on Iris, while Asche had switched to Geisterwand, flinging the maces at Iris with each swing, then he used Liebesschlag next, firing orbs of electricity at Iris.

With all of their spells being flung at her, Iris couldn't fire off her spell, since she was fully focused on evading all their spells. That's when she got hit by an electric orb in the wing that sent a shock through her body. Iris got pissed and shot the beam of energy, despite getting hit a few times; she used a few of her wings to protect herself as she faded out after casting the spell.

Asche and Spiritia abruptly stopped in firing their spells to dodge the beam that was being reflected off of the magic circles. They admit that the beam being reflected was annoying, since it would be able to go through the floor like it wasn't even there and reflect back to another circle.

When the beam vanished Iris reappeared and started her attacks again. Asche and Spiritia fought back with every spell they could use, but things were starting to reach a stalemate, and they knew that the fight would go to her if it would reach that point. Then Asche somehow ended up beside Spiritia as he deflected energy orbs back to Iris. He said, "Grrgh, Tia, this can't go on much longer! I'll give you an opening, and you take her out, got it?!"

Spiritia fired off a charged shot of energy and replied, "Alright Asche, I'll trust you on this one."

Then another eclipse occurred and Iris looked at them and said, "Enough playing around, it's time for the two of you to die!" Even more magic circles appeared and Iris had a dark grin as she started to gather energy into her hands.

Asche had Schwert Gewehr in it's gun form and pointed it at Iris thinking, 'I need to hit her where it hurts. Freu, please lend me your strength…' That's when Asche shouted, "Freudenstachel!" and what happened next surprised him. Instead of one small blue magic circle, six of them appeared at the end of the barrel and six barrages of icicles shot out at the same time, all of them aimed for Iris' wings.

The icicles hit the wings dead on and some of them pierced the wings, while others started to freeze them. Apparently, Iris felt the pain of her wings as she lost focus on the spell she concentrated on and screamed in pain, falling quite a bit down, but not hitting the invisible platform. Asche shouted, "Tia, now!"

Spiritia caught the message and gathered mana into her right hand, to the point where it felt like it was overflowing. Spiritia ran over to Iris, just as she was regaining her senses, and had no chance to avoid Spiritia as she saw her running towards her. An orb of energy formed on top of her right hand as she stopped and fired it straight at her. The stronger than usual Seelegewehr shot hit Iris straight in the stomach, stripping her of her wings and sending her flying backwards.

With Spiritia's last strike at Iris, she fell to the floor with a light crash, huffing as if she was exhausted from the fight. Asche and Spiritia looked at each other before the two confronted Iris, with Spiritia holding her hand out to her, while Asche had Schwert Gewehr pointed at Iris. The two happened to notice golden feathers falling from the sky above, and Asche couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with the sight.

Iris couldn't believe what just happened to her as she said, "To think that I would lose to two magi that were inferior to me."

Spiritia looked at Iris with pity in her eyes as she said, "Iris, you're wrong. We won because everyone was cheering us on, and we supported each other. No one is ever truly alone. It's because you couldn't believe in others – because you couldn't love other human beings… That's the reason that you lost."

As Iris was silent, Asche couldn't believe that Spiritia was still lecturing her and he said, "Why don't we kill Iris right now and be done with it?!"

Spiritia was shocked as she said, "What? You still can't be serious about that?!"

Asche lowered Schwert Gewehr as he spat, "I've been serious all this time Tia! We need to do this or else it'll come back to haunt us later!"

That's when a smirk came from Iris as she said, "Ha, you two let your guard down!"

"What?!" Asche shouted. It was too late as Iris threw the tiara that she was wearing down on the ground. The feathers that were falling down gathered into the tiara and set off an explosion that started to tear the platform apart. Iris gave one last smirk and she managed to somehow get away in her beaten pod.

Instinctively, Asche took out the teleportation stone and materialized it in his hand. He shoved it into Spiritia hands shouting, "Activate, location Talos!"

That's when the spell started to activate but one of the explosions was a bit too close for comfort, forcing Asche to push Spiritia back a bit and he got out of the way also. Unfortunately, he went the wrong way and was not out of the spell's range. The teleportation spell activated just as Spiritia and Lilli shouted, "Asche!"

All Asche did was smile at her as he said, "Well, this is it. Take care Tia, and tell Freu and the others I'm sorry."

Then the spell activated and both Spiritia and Lilli vanished, the last thing they saw was Asche smiling at them amid the explosions.

* * *

Spiritia was on top of Talos, and was starting to stir. The teleportation spell had knocked her unconscious for a bit until she heard Lilli's worried voice, "…Tia, are you alright?!"

A moan came from Spiritia as she opened her eyes and said, "Huh…? Lilli…?" Lilli told them, "We're on top of Talos, heading back to Haven."

"I see…" Then she looked around and saw that Asche wasn't with her. Suddenly her memory of what just happened came back to her and she asked in a low voice, "Where's Asche…?"

At those words, Lilli started to have tears in her eyes and she replied, "He…Asche was too far from the spell… He's not here anymore…I don't think he got away…"

Slowly, Lilli's words sunk into Spiritia and had a hard time believing them. Then she asked, "What happened to Iris?"

"…She managed to escape somehow. I saw her fly away just as the explosions started. That I know for sure…" Lilli said softly. Then Talos gave a soft growl which Lilli translated, "Talos says that he's sorry about what happened." Tears started to form in Spiritia's eyes as she said, "…Thank you Talos…*sniff*"

Lilli wiped her tears and said, "…It's finally over. I wonder if this is enough to change the world…" Lilli couldn't help but sob quietly and Spiritia said, "We'll make it happen. We can do it if we all try to get along. If we move forward together, one step at a time… I'm sure that's what Asche would have wanted."

Spiritia started to cry sobbing, "Asche…" Lilli went over and tried to comfort her, as they flew back to Haven, where everyone was waiting.


	18. Spiritia Rosenberg

Epilogue – Spiritia Rosenberg

A week has passed since Asche had sacrificed himself to save Spiritia and Lilli. Even though they had won against Iris, Spiritia had locked herself up in her room at Haven, due to her depression over Asche's death. Freudia was also depressed, but not as badly as Spiritia, and had tried to talk to her on several occasions. Even Lilli was locked out of the room, and she tried just as desperately to try and talk to Spiritia.

Spiritia barely ate at all during that week, and most of the time she just cried in sadness, wishing that Asche would just walk into her room, saying that it was all just smoke and mirrors, and that he's just fine. But deep in her heart she knew that he wasn't coming back. The last thing she remembered of him before everything went blank was him smiling at her saying, "Take care Tia."

It didn't help when they went looking for any signs of him after. A few days after Iris' defeat, Spiritia and the other girls returned to the ruins of the Golden Palace, searching for any signs of Asche, even though they knew it was fruitless. They couldn't find a single trace of him anywhere, and it was hard too, since the platform the battle took place on had crashed down upon the palace, destroying it completely. Most of the platform was still intact and that was the area they searched the most. Spiritia completely broke down in tears when they couldn't find a single trace of him, with Freudia by her side, trying to comfort her while her own tears fell from her face. The other RKS members were silent as they watched the two hold each other and cry silently.

Freudia wasn't taking it very well either. When she heard that Asche was gone from Spiritia, she went into a state of shock. She quickly recovered and was quick to ask for confirmation. The other members were still in a state of shock over the news while Freudia demanded if what Spiritia said was true. When Spiritia looked away, unable to answer her, Freudia fell to her knees in disbelief that Asche was really gone. The last thing she remembered of him was his smile back at Castle Zeppelin and his promise to bring Spiritia back in one piece.

She too locked herself in her room for a few days in order to cope with the loss, trying to deal with the fact that Asche wasn't coming back. Eventually she came out after reminiscing through her memories, and realized that Asche wouldn't want her to isolate herself like Spiritia did. So she got out and tried to talk to Spiritia about it, and when she was unresponsive Freudia considered breaking down the door for a moment before she sighed and let her be. Freudia prayed that Spiritia would be able to move on, but truth be told, she herself was still in grieving.

The other members of RKS were all disbelieving that Asche was gone. Zorne and Trauare stayed together most of the time. Zorne was still grieving over the death of her father, and Asche's death didn't help in any way. Despite not admitting it to anyone, not even to Trauare, she considered Asche to be like a big brother figure. She remembered him giving advice and training her to be strong back in the past and he also joked around with her too. These memories made her smile for a moment before she fell back into a depressed state.

Trauare just couldn't believe that Asche had died just like that. She considered him a strong rival and a good friend to boot. She challenged Asche from time to time, not as much as Grolla did, but still she did. The two would always fight to a standstill yet Trauare felt that he was holding back a bit during their spars. This frustrated her but Asche would always urge her to get better, something she found to be quite encouraging. When she looked back in her memories, she laughed at a particular one that she found funny, which was the time she tried to teach Asche how to swim. Long story short, it didn't go well, with hilarious results. She couldn't help but feel that things won't be the same without him around.

Luste was quiet for most of the time. Like the others, she had a hard time dealing with Asche's death. All she did was walk around Haven with a blank look on her face. Despite being one of the youngest RKS members, she still knows what a loss feels like, since she lost her mother years ago to a village raid. When she first heard about Asche from Spiritia she couldn't help but feel excited about meeting him. Hearing the stories from Spiritia, Luste really wanted to meet the person Spiritia spoke so highly about. And when she finally met him, she found that hanging out with him was quite fun. Now she sighed, knowing that those times won't come again, and she cried silently, something that she hasn't done since her mother died.

Sichte and Grolla were busy rounding up the other members of RKS, the minor ones, and bringing them back to Haven, now being RKS' new HQ. Castle Zeppelin was still under the influence of the dark magic, despite the source being gone, so it wasn't exactly safe. The two were holding up, but inside they weren't feeling the best. Grolla had to admit, he fought to the bitter end and still kept his ideals, and thought that he shouldn't have gone out the way he did. Now she'll never be able to prove who was the better swordsman of the two, and couldn't admit that Asche was better than her in some aspects.

When Grolla received Raimund's Grollschwert from Freudia and heard that Asche and Spiritia had put her grandfather to rest, she couldn't help but be grateful to them. When she was alone with the two blades in her hands, the two glowed before they fused themselves together, with the form of Raimund's Grollschwert remaining. She heard it's voice speak to her, and when she heard that it was able to talk to Asche too she was left speechless. She started to wonder if she was wrong about him all this time as she kept working with Sichte.

Sichte kept herself busy, with all of RKS' affairs being complicated after the 'rebellion'. Despite that, she couldn't keep her mind off of what happened to Asche. He had some impact on her life, she knew that, and to hear that he was gone just like that was just plain unbelievable. Even if there was no body, she knew that it would've been impossible to survive what Spiritia had described. She liked the fact that he held similar beliefs to hers, and the chats they had were enjoyable to her. She knew that losing Asche during this crucial time would have a hard blow upon RKS and Sichte couldn't help but shed a tear at the whole thing.

Liebea stayed in her room most of the time, with Karl by her side. She didn't take the news very well and Karl was there comforting her during the first couple of days. As he held his little sister in his arms Karl felt like he should be blaming himself for what happened. His suspicions were right on the money but Iris caught him before he could do anything, but every time he tried to blame himself Asche's voice would pop into his head saying, "Don't worry about it. It was my choice." Karl reminisced how he had a certain conversation with Asche about Liebea, with him asking Asche to take care of Liebea if anything happened to him. He agreed to it and saw that, despite a few rough moments, the two got along pretty well.

Liebea was in much of a shock as Spiritia or Freudia, with the last thing she remembered of him was being healed back at Castle Zeppelin. She tried to look back on her memories of him, like from their first meeting or that time Asche nearly hurled all over her. She cried knowing that there won't be anymore of those times, but remembered that Asche wanted her to become strong, so she can stand on her own two feet proud and confident. She gave a small smile when she remembered him trying to cheer her up at times.

Schwer-Muta was quiet during the whole week. She didn't show much emotion, but if anyone looked into her eyes, they could see that she was upset. Zeppy tried cheering her up but she was being unresponsive, and eventually, the squid gave up. It too felt a bit down, since Schwer-Muta's mood was affecting it. In all of her time in RKS, she remembered that Asche was the one who was always trying to reach out to her whenever they met. She may have known Asche the least time-wise, but he had much of an impact on her during her time in the organization. The odd white animal suit that she wore was given to her by Asche, and he even taught her how to wash it properly, much to her surprise. She spent some time in her room crying too, and secretly wished that he would just come back to them.

Lilli was just plain out of it for the past week. She was just as upset as Spiritia over Asche's death, and with her being pushed away, Lilli spent most of her time with Miraina, who decided to stay for a while after hearing the news. The two spent their time around Talos, who happened to find Haven quite comfortable on the outside, which the other RKS members didn't mind much. Miraina cheered Lilli up a bit by telling her some stories about her adventures which she promised her, but saw in Lilli's eyes that she was still grieving and hoped Spiritia would get better soon.

A few days later, Freudia managed to drag Spiritia out of her room, and after the two took a bath together, since Spiritia was still out of it, they went outside for a walk. That's when they saw someone lying near the area where magi teleported in and out. They ran over to check if the person was alright, with them half hoping that it was actually Asche lying there.

Unfortunately it wasn't him, as the person lying there was actually a girl in brown rags. The only thing they could see was that she was face down with her long black hair that went past her waist sprawled out. They could hear the girl moaning and Freudia said, "Tia, you take one side and I'll take the other. We'll take her back inside."

"Okay Freu." Spiritia said. They helped her up and each swung an arm over their shoulders and found that she was shorter than them, so the girl's feet were off the ground.

As they walked towards the building, Sichte and Grolla came out of the main entrance and Sichte asked, "Spiritia, Freudia, who's the girl?"

"We found her near the teleportation zone. She looks hurt so we're bringing her in to treat her." Freudia said.

Grolla looked at the girl suspiciously and Freudia noticed so she said, "We'll question her once she's better, is that alright with you?"

Grolla nodded at that and replied, "It's fine with me."

"Then if you two would excuse us…" Freudia said as she and Spiritia brought the girl inside. Sichte looked at Grolla and said, "We might as well call the others. Something about that girl feels familiar somehow…but I just can't put my finger on it."

"…As you wish Lady Sichte." Grolla said as she followed Sichte back inside.

Later everyone was gathered at the bed where the girl was sleeping, much to Freudia and Spiritia's surprised. They were glad to see that Spiritia was up and about again, even though most of them hid it. Lilli and Miraina floated in and Lilli was happy to see that Spiritia was in the room beside Freudia. She flew over and saw that Spiritia's eyes were still a bit red as she cautiously asked, "…Tia?"

Spiritia turned to look at her and said, "Lilli, sorry for worrying you." Lilli went over and gave Spiritia a hug on the cheek saying, "I just glad that you're alright Tia." Miraina floated over to Lilli's side and asked, "So, who's that?"

"I don't know, but for some reason there's something familiar about her…" Spiritia replied. Freudia agreed saying, "Yes, there is, but I can't put my mind on it." Everyone else seemed to nod, all having the exact same thoughts.

A moment later, the girl started to stir and everyone looked over at her. Spiritia went over to the girl's side as she slowly woke up. The girl opened her eyes and noticed that they were a similar color as Asche's which made her cringe inside. She slowly sat up and said, "W-where…am I…?"

"You're in Haven miss." Spiritia told her, "We found you collapsed outside of the building." Then the girl looked at her hands and seemed surprised to see them. Then she touched her face and said, "What…? Why do I look like this?"

Everyone was puzzled by what the girl said and Spiritia asked, "What's your name?" The girl looked at her and seemed to recognize Spiritia as she said, "I know you… He calls you Tia, doesn't he…?" Then she looked at Freudia and said, "And…you're Freu…" This alarmed everyone as Freudia asked, "…What's your name miss?"

The girl seemed to be coming to her senses as she said, "I'm not surprised… I haven't been able to be in this form, ever since he died…" The girl slowly got up off the bed as Spiritia and Freudia back away a bit to give her space. She looked at them and said, "The name I go by ever since I was created…is Schwert Gewehr…"

This seemed to shock everyone and Spiritia said, "What? But that's the name of Asche's…!"

Freudia and the others were speechless as the girl said, "I'm not really surprised. The ability for me to be able to change into this form was sealed ever since Rosenkreuz died. Oh, and to explain, I'm the spirit that resides within Schwert Gewehr, so you can call me Leana."

That's when Spiritia said, "That can't be true…" Leana smirked and said, "That's understandable. If you want proof, please hold out your hand Miss Tia." Spiritia did as she was told, but her hand was a bit shaky. Leana took her hand as she said, "Please don't be afraid."

Suddenly, Leana glowed and flashed a bright light, which blinded everyone. When the light died Spiritia and the others were shocked to see Schwert Gewehr in Spiritia's hand. Everyone stared at it, trying to figure out if that was the real Schwert Gewehr and not some copy.

Then Schwert Gewehr glowed again and it turned back into Leana and she asked, "Are you convinced?"

Spiritia said, "I think so…but if you're really here than what happened to Asche?!"

Leana saw the expectant look on everyone's faces and she had to lower her head as she replied, "I'm not sure. I wasn't even fully aware of what was happening back then. I felt something pulling at me and before I knew it, I was in this form lying down outside."

Everyone looked like they deflated and Spiritia looked like on the verge of tears until Leana said, "But I'm not really sure if he's alive or dead. Something happened back there that I can't explain, and it broke the seal that was on my spirit. That's all I can say for now."

There was a moment of silence before Freudia asked, "So, you're telling me that Asche could be alive and out there somewhere?"

"…He could be, but I'd rather not get your hopes up. As I said, I don't know what happened back there, so I'm not certain." Leana told them sadly.

Everyone seemed skeptical but Spiritia seemed to brighten up at the prospect of Asche being possibly alive. Freudia wanted to feel the same way, but if Asche really was dead, she wanted her and Spiritia to be prepared for it.

Suddenly Leana clapped her hands together and said, "Ah, something came back to me. As you know, I'm the sword Schwert Gewehr, and I'm able to store memories within me. Asche stored a few a while back during the whole rebellion thing, and I think he has a few plans regarding the aftermath. So I think I'll need help with a few things…"

Spiritia shot up and said, "Me and Freu will help!" She grabbed Freudia's arm as Lilli flew off of her and went over to Miraina. That's when Leana addressed everyone else asking, "I know this may sound presumptuous of me, but I would like all of you to go to the meeting room for this."

Everyone else looked at each other and Sichte said, "I guess it's okay." The others seemed to be in agreement and Leana just nodded and she led Spiritia and Freudia out of the room towards Asche's room.

A bit later, everyone was gathered in the meeting room with a locked chest that belonged to Asche on top of the round table. It was locked and Spiritia said, "Where did Asche put the key?"

That's when Schwer-Muta stepped forward and said, "…Here…" She reached into her shirt and pulled out the key Asche had given her after he and Spiritia beat her. Schwer-Muta gave it to Spiritia who said, "That's right, I forgot Asche gave it to you." She opened the lock and popped the chest open.

Everyone had gathered to see what was inside and found a few piles of parchment, a couple of boxes, and one particular box that had a ribbon on top. Spiritia took it out and gave it to Schwer-Muta saying, "I think this is Asche's birthday present to you Schwer."

"…Thank you Tia…" Schwer-Muta happily took the box and opened it, revealing a pair of hairpins, one which was a small jewel flower that had a sapphire in the middle, and the other which looked like a gold coin with a sketch of Zeppy on it. There was a note inside of it which she opened, and it read,

_Schwer,_

_ I hope you like your present. I wanted to make a life-sized doll of Zeppy but I didn't have the time for it, since things have been hectic lately. I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it to your party so I hope this will make up for it._

_ Asche_

Schwer-Muta smiled and held the hairpins close to her as she whispered, "Thank you…Asche…"

Meanwhile Leana wobbled a bit and said, "Oh my, it's been a while that I nearly forgot." Everyone looked at her and she explained, "I can only be in this form once a month, because I maintaining this form strains my spirit, or so Rosenkreuz told me. Before I revert, let me tell you what's in the chest. One is a detailed plan that involves the aftermath of the rebellion, and the other thing is a box of translation charms that Asche somehow made. It will allow you to be able to understand other languages that you happen to come in contact with. Well, now that's settled, I think it's time for me to take a nap."

Leana jumped into Spiritia's arms and she nearly fell down when Leana glowed and changed back into Schwert Gewehr. Spiritia held the sword in her arms, still a bit surprised at being jumped as Freudia took out the papers that were inside. On them was a detailed plan of what to do after the whole rebellion was taken care of. It also speculated that the Church would take action against them and other magi and so RKS is supposed to gather all the mages and bring them to Haven for protection. That was just a summary of what was written on the papers.

They found the box that held the translation charms and found that they were small earrings that looked like tiny pearls and were in various colors. Everyone took one that matched either their hair color or eye color and put them on. They were surprised that they managed to put them on as they actually didn't have their ears pierced. All of them figured that it must be a magic thing that Asche put into it.

Freudia spread the papers across the table as Trauare took the chest off of the table. As she put the chest down on the floor, Trauare noticed a tiny box that said, 'Bombes Gauntlet enhancement.' She took it out and pocketed it thinking, 'I'll show Zorne this later.'

Everyone read what was on the papers as Spiritia held Schwert Gewehr in her arms, like it was the most important thing to her. Freudia kept an eye on her, a bit worried about her state of mind. She looked determined as she read the papers, making her think, 'As much as I would like to want to believe it, we need to be prepared for the worst. I hope that she's truly prepared for that…'

That's when Spiritia said, "This sounds good, I say let's go with it."

Sichte nodded and said, "Yes, this sounds like a good plan, and we would be saving the magi who are still among the Empire's populace."

Everyone seemed to be in agreement and Spiritia thought, 'We'll make this plan work Asche, for you…' She gripped Schwert Gewehr as she thought this.

Freudia thought, 'Well, not much else to do but go along with it, I guess. I just keep an eye on her for now.' She was lost in thought as she didn't notice Schwert Gewehr's gem glow for a bit before it went back to normal. They didn't know that the whole incident was the start of a new path for RosenkreuzStilette: Blades of the Rose Cross.

* * *

End notes:

Story's finally done, and it's quite a surprise to see it finished quite fast too, in my opinion. Hope that it's alright, all around, and sorry that was short, it just happened like that, and I wanted an RKS fic to be out there. Just to know, the description of Schwert Gewehr might've been a bit iffy to some, so I'll try to clarify on that. The blade part looks like the Sword Strike's Schwert Gewehr blade from Gundam Seed, and the hilt looks like Layfon's teal Dite from Chrome Shelled Regios.

On another note, this story will branch off into two separate sequels. One will be on the upcoming sequel to the game this story is based on: RosenkreuzStilette ~Freudenstachel~ which won't be out until the 2010 summer comiket (this thing been delayed twice already) so that story won't be out for a while, even when it's been translated. The other story will be a RosenkreuzStilette x Negima crossover which is still in the works. This one will include Freudenstachel elements too but not so early in the story. That's all for now and I hope that this story was enjoyable for you to read, despite some plot holes this story might have. That's all for now, and I hope that all of you will look forward to the sequels in the future.

**Note: Okay, Schwert Gewehr has been edited front and back, so there shouldn't be any spelling errors or whatnot, and things have been edited, especially Asche's family history, after checking a few things on the RKS wiki. Anyway, the sequels will come out as soon as RKS Freudenstachel is out and translated, though the Negima crossover story might come out a little earlier, depending. Anyway, that's it for me, and I know that I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel released.**


End file.
